


I Never Saw You Coming (And I'll Never Be The Same)

by jacobperalta



Category: Glee
Genre: F/F, Finn is annoying, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Recreational Drug Use, Skank Quinn Fabray, Slow Burn, confident lesbian quinn, lots of flirting, quinn is a badass that gets into fights and it's hot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-05-29
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:06:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 42,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23824300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jacobperalta/pseuds/jacobperalta
Summary: The only thing that’s for sure about Quinn Fabray is that she’s suspended every couple of weeks for getting into fights because she refuses to take any shit from anyone. The football and hockey players tried to slushie her once and one of them ended up in the hospital so since then, they just mock her with comments. She skips school a lot too but Rachel has never seen her once miss an exam. She’s not sure if she has good grades or not, though.ORRachel Berry gets paired up with McKinley's resident bad girl Quinn Fabray on an English project and she develops a surprising friendship with the girl. Despite Quinn's persistent flirting, Rachel finds herself drawn to her that may lead her to feel more than just platonic affection.
Relationships: Rachel Berry/Quinn Fabray
Comments: 134
Kudos: 623





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! This is my first multi-chapter fic so be easy on me, will you? I'm really excited to share this thing I've been working on since forever it seems like. I think everyone needs a little more skank Quinn Fabray in their life right? I hope you enjoy this. I'm gonna try to post once a week but I won't make any solid promises. 
> 
> Just to make sure everyone gets it: Quinn has never been the blonde christian girl that we all fell in love with in season 1. She's never been in the glee club or had anything to do with Puck (thank god) 
> 
> The title is from State of Grace by Taylor Swift. Everyone say thank you Taylor for all the songs she made that seem like they were made for faberry.

Rachel Berry was watching the field where cheerleaders were practicing out of the window like it was the most interesting thing in the world. It was definitely more interesting than her English class. Though, her attention was brought back to class when someone opened the door violently. Quinn Fabray appeared in the doorway with her usual smirk and disheveled pink hair.   
  
“Sorry Mr. G. Got hold up at the principal’s office,” she says, tossing an apple at Mr. Green that he almost drops but manages to catch. He sets it on his desk and sighs.   
  


“Just sit down Miss Fabray. I’m explaining the project that you’ll start next class with a partner I’m picking for you today.” 

Quinn walks to her assigned seat next to Rachel who’s following her with avid eyes and the pink-haired girl winks at her before sitting down. Rachel instantly rolls her eyes. It’s always the same thing. Quinn walks in late and brings all the attention to her and winks at Rachel before sitting down. Sometimes she doesn’t come in at all or she comes in with cuts and bruises that no one knows where they come from. 

Of course there’s a lot of rumours about Quinn. There’s that rumour that she’s the leader of a drug ring, there’s the one that she’s in some sort of cult and there’s also the rumour that she’s just plain homeless and she has to fight people to get supplies. Rachel isn’t sure which one is true or not and she’s definitely too afraid to ask. 

The only thing that’s for sure about Quinn Fabray is that she’s suspended every couple of weeks for getting into fights because she refuses to take any shit from anyone. The football and hockey players tried to slushie her once and one of them ended up in the hospital so since then, they just mock her with comments. She skips school a lot too but Rachel has never seen her once miss an exam. She’s not sure if she has good grades or not, though. 

Quinn turns to look at her and raises an eyebrow which makes Rachel realizes she’s been staring at her for the past two minutes. She feels her cheeks heat up and she quickly looks back at the teacher. She side glances at Quinn when the rebel suddenly makes a movement and grabs a loose sheet of paper and starts scribbling on it. Seconds after, Rachel gets a ball of paper thrown onto her desk. She sighs and looks at it. In messy handwriting, she reads:

_Be my partner?_

With two boxes that says yes. There’s not even a no option. The diva rolls her eyes and starts drawing her own “no” box when the teacher clears his throat loudly. She looks up like a deer caught in headlights.   
  
“Is there something more important than my class, Rachel?” he asks rudely.

Quinn raises her hand but doesn’t wait to be picked to talk, “It was my fault, Mr G. I just wanted to ask her if she wanted to be my partner for the project.” 

The whole class is looking at them and Rachel tries to hide her red face with her hands. The old man rubs his belly and sighs, “Well if Rachel wants to be your partner, she can. It’s not like they’ll be more volunteers.” 

He mumbled the last part but everyone clearly heard it. There’s a few snickers but Quinn acts like she didn’t even hear it. She turns to Rachel with a smug smile. 

“You’ll see we’ll have fun. I don’t bite,” she pauses, “well unless you want me too.” 

Rachel clenches her jaw and looks away. She definitely didn’t want to be Quinn’s partner for this project. Unlike some people, she actually cared about school and wanted to go to a good school later and she won’t be able to do that if she gets stuck working with someone who won’t do her half of the project or put any effort in it.

At least, the project should be fairly easy. They have to analyze a poem of their choice that fits the criteria and write a dissertation about what it means to them. Mr Green picks the partners for everyone except Rachel and Quinn which he seemed pretty happy about because he knew whoever got stuck with Quinn would complain. 

The bell rings and Rachel quickly gathers her things and she’s about to leave when she feels a surprisingly soft hand get a hold of her wrist. She looks at the hand holding her and sees bruises that color her knuckles red and blue and she looks up at the hazel eyes. Quinn doesn’t seem to notice she had been staring.

“You wanna meet at my house this Friday? I know we have two weeks to do it but I figured we can just get it over with the quickest way possible.”

Rachel gets over her shock of Quinn actually seeming like she wants to work pretty quickly. She just wants to get it over with quickly so she can go back to her… drugs or whatever she does alone, Rachel isn’t sure.

“You have a house?” Rachel asks bluntly without thinking and Quinn looks startled. 

“Uh… yes?” she says, unsure. Like she wasn’t expecting this question. 

Rachel swallows her spit awkwardly, “People say you’re homeless.” Why? Why did she just say that? _Stop talking, Rachel._

Thankfully, Quinn doesn’t even seem offended. She just laughs and shakes her head, “Well, I’m not. I live in a house.”

Rachel just nods absently because in all honesty, she’s distracted by the laugh that just came out of Quinn. It seemed so carefree and innocent and looks like it clearly didn’t belong to the right body. Then, she sees Quinn’s lips moving and she understands that the pink-haired girl is talking.

“...easier if you give me your number,” Quinn says, pulling her phone out of the pocket from her leather jacket.

Rachel’s eyes widen, “what? Why would I give you my number?”

Quinn looks at her curiously, like it’s obvious why, “because we’re partners? and I’ll text you my address? Don’t worry I won’t text you to flirt with you,” she says with a wink. 

Rachel’s face heats up again and she writes her phone number in Quinn’s phone. The girl types something and Rachel feels her phone vibrate. Quinn gathers her things to walk out the class and she’s almost at the door when Rachel checks her phone. 

_Quinn Fabray: Hey good-looking,_ the text reads and Rachel rolls her eyes

“That’s flirting!” She calls out and Quinn turns around and walks backwards.

“Oops. Guess I can’t stop myself around pretty girls,” she says with a shrug and then she’s out of sight. 

Rachel makes her way to the cafeteria quickly, trying to forget the text sitting on her inbox. She sits in front of Mercedes and Kurt and sighs heavily, grabbing the attention of her friends. 

“What’s up?” Mercedes asks her. 

“I got partnered up with Quinn Fabray in English.” Rachel says unceremoniously and they both wince. 

“Oh no. Good luck keeping your grade up after that.” Kurt says with pity. 

Rachel slaps her face in her hands, “I didn’t even wanna be with her. She just found a way to make us be paired together.” 

“I remember you telling us she always winks at you, right? Maybe she’s interested.” Mercedes remarks. 

Kurt interrupts by shaking her head, “She flirts with everyone. I heard that she slept with Mrs Forman last year, that’s how she passed Chemistry.” 

Rachel narrows her eyes, “No way. Mrs Forman wouldn’t do that”

“Well I don’t know. I’m just saying what I heard. Apparently, she slept with more girls than all the football players combined. That’s why they hate her so much. She’s stealing all the girls from them.”

Mercedes looks at Kurt with a dumbfounded expression, “I didn’t know there was that many gay people at McKinley.” 

Kurt shakes his head, “There’s not. She’s just the perfect girl to experiment with. She’s hot, she’s got that rebel vibe and apparently she’s crazy good in bed,” he says with his mouth still full. 

Rachel gulps, “so this is a bad moment to say that I’m going to her house Friday after school, huh?” 

Her two friends look at her with wide eyes and they both talk at the same time.   
  


“She’s not homeless?”

“Well you can’t go!” 

She looks at them back and forth and shrugs, “I don’t really have a choice. It’ll be fine,” she says trying to convince herself more than them. They give her a look and she forces a smile, “It’ll be fine.” 

The rest of the week goes pretty uneventfully. Quinn only texted her to give her her address which Rachel appreciates. They agreed to meet at 5 to give Quinn to “prepare herself.” Rachel isn’t sure what that means but she didn’t want to pry because Quinn doesn’t seem like the person that likes to answer questions. 

She honestly had no idea what to expect from tonight, she didn’t know if Quinn was going to just sit back and let her do the work and she didn’t want to take any chances so she already planned a few ideas to just get it over with quickly. It’ll be easy. Rachel will write about the poem and then she’ll leave and she’ll never have to go to Quinn’s house ever again and the only times they’ll talk is when Quinn annoys her in English class. 

She’s at her locker gathering her things for the weekend when she hears footsteps coming her way. 

“Hey,” Finn says with a boy-ish smile on his face.

They had gone on one date so far and it was… okay. She’s had a crush on him for over a year and when he finally asked her out, she was over the moon but turns out her expectations might have been a little too high. He had forgotten she was vegan and brought her to Breadstix where she could only eat the garden salad and he talked about football the entire time. It wasn’t bad per se, it just wasn’t what she was expecting. He’s still cute and the quarterback which is always good to have in your corner when you’re at the bottom of the ladder at the school. They’ve been meaning to go on a second date but there was always something standing on their way. 

“Hi Finn,” Rachel says, closing her locker. 

“I was wondering if you wanted to go out tonight,” he says with a hopeful smile. Really? couldn’t he have asked her before the day of?

“I can’t tonight. I’m going over to-- I’m doing my English project,” she says. If she knew anything, it’s that Finn and Quinn didn’t like each other and she didn’t want to make things worse by mentioning her name right now. 

He frowns, “oh. Isn’t it for the end of this month? You still have time.” 

“I already promised my partner we’d do it tonight, Finn. I can’t just ditch my plans last minute,” she doesn’t mean to sound condescending but she’s definitely alluding to the other time when Finn cancelled plans last minute. She’s pretty sure that flies right over his head, though. 

“Raincheck?” he says with a pout and she nods. 

“Yeah, of course. I should go. Have a good weekend, Finn.” Rachel says before walking around him to get out of the school. She doesn’t know how many rainchecks they’ve had so far but it’s whatever. He’s still acting interested in her so she’s not going to take that for granted. 

Her father drops her off at Quinn’s house at 4:58. She knows she shouldn’t have been surprised to see that yes, Quinn really did live in a house but there’s just so many rumours about the pink-haired girl’s life, Rachel has no idea what’s true or false. She rings the doorbell and Quinn answers the door and she’s dressed just like she was at school; a black tank top with a flannel wrapped around her waist. 

“Hey beautiful,” Quinn greets her with a smirk and takes a step to the side, “come on in.”

Rachel walks inside and she’s almost surprised by how… mundane the house looks. It looks normal, like a normal family lives there, living their normal lives. She wasn’t expecting black walls everywhere but it still startles her a moment. 

“You have a very pretty house, Quinn,” Rachel says politely and the girl rolls her eyes. 

“Oh please, my mother isn’t there. You don’t need to suck up,” she looks Rachel up and down, “ _You_ do look pretty, though,” she says adding a wink that makes Rachel roll her eyes.

Quinn brings her to the kitchen where she shows some pasta covered in tomato sauce, “I made dinner,” she says with excitement. Rachel blinks a couple of times, definitely dumbfounded. 

“I’m sorry what?” Rachel asks and Quinn chuckles.

“I made dinner. I don’t like working on an empty stomach.”

Rachel hesitates, “May I have the list of ingredients?” she asks shyly and Quinn immediately frowns.

“Why? Are you allergic to something?” she says, handing it over to Rachel.

“I’m vegan,” Rachel says absently.

“Oh fuck. Fuck I’m sorry if it’s not okay. you should’ve told me, I--” 

Rachel interrupts her, “it’s fine. I can eat it.”

Quinn immediately looks relieved, “okay. Cool.” She pulls out the chair for the diva and Rachel shoots her an annoyed look which just makes Quinn smile.

Rachel looks around the house, “is your mom coming home soon?” she asks just because she wants to know if she’ll get to know who’s the parent that’s in charge of a kid like Quinn.

The girl in question shakes her head, “Nope, she’s working,” is all she gets from Quinn. 

What Kurt and Mercedes said is still floating in her mind. She doesn’t like the idea of someone sleeping with that many people like it’s no big deal and certainly not to pass a class. Quinn is clearly not shy about flirting with her and she hopes she knows she won’t have her way with Rachel. The diva digs into her bag to let the other girl know that they’re gonna be working even though they’re eating. She takes out her laptop and the sheet where she wrote all the ideas she had so far. 

Quinn takes a bite of her food and does the same. When she sets her books on the table, Rachel is surprised to find a thick book of poems.   
  


“What’s this?” she asks even though she can read the title. 

Quinn looks at her, amused, “Poems of Emily Dickinson. It’s written right there on the cover, doll.”

“Don’t call me that,” Rachel warns her, “I meant what are we going to do with this?” 

“We’re going to do our project on one of these?” Quinn questions like she doesn’t understand what Rachel doesn’t understand.

Rachel looks at her notes and then back to Quinn. The girl had thought about their project and actually had the book already at home? Rachel wasn’t going to have to do the whole project by herself? 

“Oh uh…” Rachel trails off and she sets her previous ideas to the side, “What’s your ideas?” 

“Well I was thinking about her poem called _Because I Could Not Stop For Death._ It’s a good one and it fits the criterias but if you don’t like it, we can find another one.” Quinn says, ruffling her hair to the side. She narrows her eyes when Rachel seems to be unable to take her eyes off her, “you okay, babycakes?”

Rachel rolls her eyes, “yes,” she says curtly and takes the book from Quinn’s hands who snickers and takes another bite of her dinner. 

She reads the poem and once again find herself surprised by Quinn. It’s a good poem and she can definitely see them write something about this. 

“This is really good, Quinn.”

“Well don’t sound so surprised.” 

Rachel shoots her a look but doesn’t say anything. She’s just glad she won’t have to do this work all by herself and maybe she won’t have that bad of a grade.

  
  


An hour and a half later, they’ve moved to Quinn’s bedroom. It’s simple with grey walls and there’s no piece of furniture that helps Rachel understand the person that lives there. It’s just… normal. They’ve finished more than half their work but it seems like Quinn’s attention span is over because she’s started to draw pictures on her hand with her pen and she’s not even listening to what Rachel’s saying anymore.

“Quinn.”

“Mhm?” 

“Quinn you’re not even listening to me right now,” Rachel says, annoyed.

The pink-haired girl doesn’t even look up, “What’s your story, Rachel Berry?”

“What?” 

That makes her look up and suddenly Rachel wishes she was still drawing on her hand and not looking at her because those hazel eyes are almost too much to handle. It’s impossible to guess what the girl is thinking and it drives Rachel crazy.

“I mean, what is it that you do? What defines you? You’re in that little singing group, right?” Quinn asks and it almost sounds like she’s genuinely intrigued. 

Rachel decides to focus on the last question because she has no idea how to answer the first two questions, “Glee club, yes.”

“You’re the leader or something?”

“Along with Finn but I would say I’m definitely more in charge than him,” she says confidently. 

Quinn winces at the mention of Finn which doesn’t surprise because they’ve always had this thing between them. Quinn licks her lips and smirks.

“I always like a woman in charge. I find that it’s always better when there’s… no men around. Don’t you agree?” she says, almost tauntingly and Rachel has no idea what to say to that. 

“Uh… I should get home. It’s getting late,” she opts to say. 

Quinn gives her an amused look, “it’s not even 7pm.”

“Right. Uh…” 

“You scared of me, cupcake?” 

“Don’t call me that.” 

Quinn looks at her with a smirk on her face and she rests her face in the palm of her hand. It gives Rachel the perfect view of her injured hand. She can see that’s it’s been a while since it got hurt but there’s still some yellow and blue that makes the hand look pretty gross.

“Does it hurt?” Rachel asks without being able to stop herself, nodding at the hand.

Quinn’s smirk doesn’t falter and she doesn’t even look at her hand, “You should go on a date with me.” 

Rachel chokes on her saliva, “what?”

“Go out with me. I promise you I can show you a good time.” 

Rachel rolls her eyes at Quinn’s wink and starts gathering her things, “yeah. No thanks.” 

Quinn gets up and hands her her notebook, “you got a lift home?” she says like she isn’t even phased by the rejection. 

“I’ll call my dads.”

“Let me drive you home.”

“No.”

“Come on, it’ll be easier that way.”

“...”

“It’ll be like a little date.” Quinn says with a teasing smile. 

“Quinn!”

“I’m just kidding!” the pink-haired girl says with a laugh and picks up her keys, “Let’s go.” 

Rachel stands there in shock until she hears the girl go down the stairs and Rachel quickly gathers the rest of her things and follows the girl downstairs. It’s just a 15 minute car ride, nothing will happen. Well unless Quinn decides to kidnap her which the diva isn’t sure if that’s a possibility since she doesn’t know anything about her. 

  
  


Turns out, she doesn’t kidnap her, she just opens the door for Rachel and gives her the aux cord so they can listen to whatever music Rachel wants and Quinn drives carefully, tapping her fingers on the steering wheel to the rhythm. Quinn is a much better driver than Rachel expected her to be so she’s grateful for that. When Quinn parks in front of the Berry front lawn, she looks at Rachel. 

“You wanna invite me in?” she says cheekily. Rachel rolls her eyes and gets out of the car. Quinn gets out too but leans on her door. The diva stops in front of her.

“We’ll need to finish the project soon. When are you free?” 

“I’m free whenever for you, beautiful.” 

“Quinn.”

“Rachel.”

The brunette pinches the bridge of her nose and takes a deep breath.

“Let’s just finish it this week during lunch period. We’ll meet at the library or something.”

“It’s a date,” Quinn says, ruffling her hair to the side and she smiles a cocky smile. 

“It’s not,” Rachel says in a firm tone. 

“One day, cupcake. One day, you’ll say yes.” 

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” the diva says, rolling her eyes.

It just makes the pink-haired girl smile wider, “is that a challenge? I like challenges.” 

“See you at school, Quinn,” Rachel says, turning on her heels. 

“Oh so it is a date?” Quinn calls out but Rachel doesn’t turn to look at her. She just ignores her and unlocks her door, slipping inside with ease. 

  
When she looks out the window, she sees Quinn’s car just now driving away. She bites her lip unconsciously and she jumps in surprise when she hears her father suddenly speak next to her. 

“She gave you a ride home?” Leroy asks. 

Rachel, nods absently, “yeah.”

“What’s her name again?”

“Quinn Fabray.”

“What?” Hiram suddenly joins the conversation, “did you say Quinn Fabray? As in her father is Russell Fabray?”

“I don’t know. Probably,” Rachel says, confused why that’s important. 

“Poor girl,” he says before walking away. Rachel furrows her brows and follows him to the kitchen. 

“Why?”

Hiram sighs, “I used to work with her father until one day, he just never showed up for work again. I wasn’t close to him because he’s a raging homophobe but I did hear that he moved to Indiana with a much younger woman after his daughter caught him cheating. Russell told his colleague he was just glad he finally had a reason to leave his family. Then, nobody heard from him ever again.”

Rachel is silent for a moment, “oh,” is all she can muster. She feels as though she just learned something she shouldn’t have. Like it’s Quinn’s business and if people don’t know about it, it’s because she doesn’t want people to know. She suddenly feels really bad for knowing this.

It does explain a lot of Quinn’s behavior now. Rachel can’t imagine it would be easy to see your father be with someone else and then just leaving with them like they never mattered to him. Also, Rachel doubts that having a homophobic father when Quinn is… unabashedly into the ladies, was easy. 

“She gets into trouble at school a lot,” Rachel says, “Lots of detentions, sometimes she gets suspended for fights.”

Hiram bites into his apple and puts a hand on her shoulder, “she’s probably hurting. Poor girl,” her father says before leaving Rachel alone in the kitchen. 

Rachel thinks of how Quinn often appears at school with some cuts on her skin and bruises. The harsh red marks always makes the girl look even paler, more fragile. Though, Rachel doubts that the pink-haired girl is that fragile. She would bet on the fact that the people Quinn gets in trouble with always end up looking worse than her. She doesn’t look like the kind of girl that loses fights.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is smaller than usual so sorry about that! The next ones will be longer. I still don't know when I'll post and stuff, I'm just doing it whenever I want lmao. I'm writing the last chapter right now though so you won't have to wait too long. 
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in Glee

The weekend goes by fast. Rachel distracts herself with her other studies and the songs she posts online. She’s almost surprised that Quinn doesn’t text her and she’s not sure if she’s grateful or disappointed. No, she’s grateful. She is. It’s not like she’ll ever accept the girl’s advances. It’s not that Rachel is not interested in girls, she’s always known she’s bisexual. It’s just that she considers herself a traditional lady that likes to be courted the right way. Which is not what Quinn is doing. 

Is it what Finn is doing, though?

Rachel quickly shakes her head.  _ Let’s not go there right now.  _

She just needs to finish their English project the quickest possible. That way, she can go back to focusing on Glee club and Finn. 

She takes out her phone just before going to bed to text Quinn.   
  


_ Rachel Berry: Do you want to meet up tomorrow to finish our assignment?  _

She waits ten minutes before deciding that Quinn won’t answer her right now so she might as well go to bed. When she wakes up the next morning, she frowns when she sees that Quinn still hadn’t replied to her. The pink-haired girl definitely doesn’t seem like the girl that turns off her phone at 8pm to go to bed early so it surprises Rachel. Nevertheless, she figures she’ll just talk to the girl at school so she starts her workout and takes a shower before heading to school.

Quinn isn’t at her locker when Rachel gets to hers but she doesn’t think anything of it. The pink-haired girl is so rarely at her locker, Rachel doubts she even knows her combination lock . She doesn’t share lots of classes with Quinn but they’re supposed to have English at third period so she’ll just tell her then. 

Rachel takes her usual seat in English and looks at the door, waiting to see the girl she wants to see show up. She does find it a bit rude that Quinn still hasn’t answered her texts and she hasn’t seen her in the hallways between classes. 

The final bell rings and Quinn still hasn’t showed up. Rachel sighs to herself and looks at the clock on the wall. Quinn is often late, she’s probably just late as always. In 15 minutes, she’ll walk in through the door making a ton of noise, thus disturbing the entire class, she’ll throw an apple at Mr Green that he’ll barely manage to catch and wink at Rachel before sitting down like always. 

That doesn’t happen. Quinn never walks in through the door and by the end of the period, Rachel is annoyed. She gets to the cafeteria without looking up from her phone, texting Quinn.

_ Rachel Berry: Where are you? _

“Earth to Rachel?” Kurt pulls Rachel out of her own little world and she notices she’d just been standing in front of the table. 

She sits down and closes her phone, “sorry. Have you guys seen Quinn today?”

They both give her a look, “no?” Mercedes says, “why are you asking?” 

“I want to finish our project soon but she’s not answering my texts and she wasn’t here in English class,” Rachel sighs. They both nod. 

“She’s probably just high somewhere in a ditch,” Kurt says nonchalantly.

“Kurt!” The two girls shriek at the same time.

His eyes go wide, “what? Everyone says she’s high all the time.”

“She’s not high all the time!” Rachel says and then she winces, “well at least I don’t think so. She didn’t seem high last Friday.” She  _ really  _ hopes Quinn wasn’t high since she’s the one that drove her home. 

“How was it by the way?” Mercedes changes the subject and Rachel shrugs. 

“It was actually better than I expected.”

“Did she let you do all the work?”

Rachel shakes her head, “she’s actually the one that found the poem and she had really interesting stuff to say about it.”

Her friends look at her surprised, “Damn. Who would’ve thought.” Mercedes says and Rachel nods and checks her phone.

Still nothing.

  
  


Rachel doesn’t see Quinn until 5th period on Wednesday, so two days later. She steps in the room at the same time as the bell rings and she holds up finger guns at Mr Green with a grin.    
  
“Were you worried I wasn’t gonna come today, Mr G? Well fear no more,” she says and she pretends she’s gonna throw the apple in her hand at him which makes him flinch. Rachel looks at the exchange carefully, wondering how the hell the teacher manages to deal with her when she acts like that. 

“Sit down, Fabray,” he says and she smirks and finally tosses him the apple. Rachel isn’t sure if Mr Green ends up eating them, she’s not sure she would if she were him.

It’s only when Quinn sits down next to her that Rachel notices it how lousy the pink-haired girl looks. She has cuts on her forearm that are clearly recent and she has a nasty yellow and blue bruise on her cheek that make her left eye look bloodshot. She can’t tell if her pupils are dilated from the injury or there’s chances she’s high. Her knuckles are red with dry blood but somehow she makes it look like there’s nothing even there, like it doesn’t hurt. She turns to Rachel and winks with her good eye. 

“Hey cutie.” 

“Where were you?” Rachel says in a hushed voice to not get caught by the teacher.

Quinn smirks, “why do you care? You missed me?” 

“I-- No-- I texted you! To do the project, remember?” Rachel stammers.

“How could I forget?”

Rachel is about to reply when Mr Green clears his throat, “Rachel, Quinn. Let’s pay attention to the class, okay?” 

Rachel blushes while Quinn chuckles lowly. The bruised up girl spends the entire class drawing in the margins of her notebook but Rachel can’t see what she’s doing. When the bell rings, Rachel reaches over to grab Quinn’s arm before she walks away but she ends up squeezing one of her injuries. The pink-haired girl hisses in pain and pulls her hand away.

“I’m so sorry!” Rachel says with wide eyes, “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I hope I didn't make anything worse. It’s so dumb because I definitely saw that you were hurt and I still hurt you and I’m sorry, that was really stupid--”

Quinn looks at her mouth with wide eyes like her mind is racing, trying to understand what Rachel is saying so fast and then she laughs.

“Berry, it’s fine. I’m fine,” she winks at her, “gonna take a lot worse than that to actually hurt me.” 

“Right.” Rachel says, looking at the cuts on her arm and then looking up at the bruise on her face, just under the hazel eye. 

“You checking me out, cupcake?” Quinn says with a smirk and Rachel almost frowns at her. It’s almost as though Quinn doesn’t realize she’s injured. She acts like she doesn’t have a gash on her arm and her face doesn’t look like it’s been through hell. 

“You could’ve texted me,” Rachel says, sighing, “are you okay? Where were you?”

Quinn shrugs, “sorry, doll. My phone was dead,” she says as though that answers Rachel’s questions. She’s expected to believe her phone was dead for two days? And that it explains Quinn’s injuries? 

“You wanna do the project now?” Quinn says and Rachel shakes her head. 

“I can’t right now. I have Glee club.”

“You know, I oughta hear that voice of yours one day.” Quinn says with a flirty smile, “you know, we should go somewhere one day and just sing together. As a date obviously.”

Rachel ignores the ‘date’ part, “you can sing?” she says and she can’t help but light up. 

“Wouldn’t you like to know, sweetheart.”

“You should join--” Rachel starts but she’s cut off by Quinn barking out a laugh. Once again, the diva finds herself shocked to hear such a sweet laugh coming out from the girl. 

“I’m not gonna join Glee club. You’re pretty but it’s not worth it,” she says with a wink and Rachel isn’t sure if she should be offended by that, “besides, you got some real dicks up in that club.”

Rachel doesn’t need to ask who she’s talking about, she knows she’s talking about Finn and Puck. The diva registers way too late that Quinn has now gathered all her things and she’s on her way out. 

“Wait--!”

“See you tomorrow at lunch, cupcake.” Quinn calls out without looking at her.

Well, that’s when they’re gonna work on their project it seems like.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Hope you guys will enjoy this one! I was supposed to post this yesterday but I decided to post a one-shot instead so if you haven't checked that one out yet, do it! it's good I swear. 
> 
> As always, I don't own any of these characters

The day after, she finds the pink-haired girl hunched over the book of Dickinson’s poems in the library. Rachel takes her time walking over to her, observing the way the girl seems so concentrated on the words. Quinn suddenly nods to herself and writes something in the margin of the book and bites the end of her pen as she rereads what she wrote. She’s wearing a black bandana in her hair today with a denim jacket and her usual flannel wrapped around her waist. Rachel can still see the cuts on her arms because the jacket is sleeveless and she winces when she sees the bruise that colours her cheek as bright as day in a dark purple color. Quinn suddenly turns to her like she knew she was there the whole time.

“Hey, good-looking,” she says, kicking a chair with the heel of her Doc Martens, “I saved you a seat.”

Rachel fixes her bangs and takes the seat next to Quinn carefully. Quinn flips through the book until she finds the poem they’ve been working on and rests her chin in her hand while she waits for Rachel to get ready to work. The diva swallows hard as she feels Quinn’s intense stare on her. She always feels as though the rebel is analyzing her and that she knows everything that’s happening in Rachel’s mind, which she thinks isn’t fair since she can’t figure out Quinn for the life of her. 

“Do I have something on my face?” Rachel says, almost rudely when Quinn won’t stop her staring. The girl only smiles at her. 

“Let’s get to work, hotstuff.” 

They pick up where they left off and although it’s Rachel that’s writing because Quinn’s handwriting is atrocious, the pink-haired girl is doing her part of the work without complaining, pitching ideas to Rachel that are actually great. She does it in such a casual way too, with her head leaning against the wall as she plays with the stress ball she found sitting on the table next to them. She throws the ball in the air and talks in a way that shows she  _ understands _ Dickinson’s poem, almost like she’s the one that wrote them in the first place. She can’t believe this girl gets the reputation of failing school because she might be the first person Rachel actually works well with. She knows she wouldn’t ever be able to have a conversation anything resembling this with Finn.

Not that she’s comparing them or anything. 

They finish the whole thing easily and they even have a little bit of time before lunch ends. Rachel could leave to go join Mercedes and Kurt at the table downstairs but for some reason she doesn’t want to. She knows Quinn doesn’t really have any friends at school. She’s seen her talk to some of the skanks but it doesn’t seem like an actual friendship. Rachel doesn’t even know what Quinn usually does during lunch period. 

Rachel is sitting awkwardly in the chair, while Quinn throws the ball in the air, feet on the table. Quinn doesn’t seem bothered by any means by the silence surrounding them, it’s almost as though she prefers it. At one point, she closes her eyes and puts her hands on the back of her head, relaxing.

“So,” Rachel clears her throat and Quinn opens one eye, “you were familiar with Emily Dickinson before.”

Quinn sends her an amused look, like she knows Rachel is trying to fill the silence. The diva can admit that she’s not the most comfortable with silence which might be why people find her so annoying and think she talks too much. 

“Yeah,” is all Quinn says to taunt her.

“How come?”

“I like her poems.”

Rachel huffs, “you know for someone who wants to go on a date with me so bad, you’d think you’d give me a better version of yourself, to show me what I’m missing. If that’s how you’d act on a date, I’m glad I said no.”

That makes Quinn sit correctly on her chair and she smiles, “So if I answer your questions, you’ll go on a date with me?” 

“No,” Rachel says firmly.

“Damn,” Quinn says, “Here I thought the whole bad girl look was your thing. The bruises not doing it for you?” she says like the blue contusion on her cheek is some kind of joke. 

“Why do you do this?” Rachel says suddenly and Quinn raises an eyebrow, “Why do you get into fights? Who even did this to you? Where were you Monday and Tuesday?”

Quinn seems bombarded by the questions and she frowns. She gets an uncomfortable look on her face and looks away from Rachel. 

“None of your business,” she snaps and it’s the first time she sounds so… rude to Rachel. It almost makes her want to shut up but she doesn’t.

“What do you get out of it? Are you trying to get back at your father or something?” she says and as soon as Quinn sharply turns to look at her, she regrets the words. 

“What did you say?” 

“I-- I don’t know,” Rachel tries to backtrack but it’s too late. 

“No, you obviously know what you’re talking about. Tell me more,” Quinn says and the hazel eyes don’t have that usual flirty glint, they’re just glaring at her. 

“My father-- he told me he used to work with your dad and he told me--” Rachel is cut off when Quinn suddenly gets up and shoves her things in her backpack. She leans on her hands on the table.

“Listen, Berry. You don’t know shit, okay? I’m sick of people like you acting like you can figure me out and you can psychoanalyze me like a fucking hamster in a pet lab because my father skipped town. I don’t need your fucking pity. I don’t need you to come talk to me and offer me your shoulder to cry on and then go back to your happy little family who’s never had to struggle once in their lives,” she takes a step back and turn on her heels and just before she starts to walk away, she mumbles “I thought you were different.” 

And then she’s gone. 

Rachel swallows hard as she looks at the girl’s retreating form. She closes her eyes and lets her head fall on the table. She had never been scared of the girl before. Sure she obviously got into fights and was pretty scary looking with the whole pink hair and leather jackets look but Quinn had always been nice to her. It was because she was flirting with her obviously, but it was still kind enough that Rachel wasn’t afraid of talking to her. 

But at that moment, as Quinn looked at her with blazing eyes and she spoke to her in a dangerously calm way, Rachel felt her blood freeze in her veins. Suddenly, the injuries just made her seem like a person Rachel should cross the street to get away from when it’s dark outside. She seemed like the person who does sleep with anyone she wants and ditches them without a care in the world, not the girl who talked about Emily Dickinson in an intellectual way, with passion. 

The truth is that she doesn’t know anything about Quinn Fabray and now she never will because she can’t keep her mouth shut and think before she speaks. She can’t stop thinking of her dad saying that she’s probably hurting and the way Quinn's broken voice had muttered that she thought she was different. That’s the part that hurt the most. Not the way Quinn had glared at her, it’s to think that Quinn thought of Rachel as a good thing in her life maybe and the diva had just messed it up before they could even start to think about becoming kind of friends. 

_ I thought you were different. _

Was she? She’s still the girl that complained about getting paired up with Quinn because she automatically assumed the rebel would make her fail the project. She’s still the girl who gossiped rumours about Quinn at lunch with her friends who believed she sleeps with any girl she wants and was high all the time. She’s still the girl that was surprised when she found out Quinn wasn’t homeless. 

She wasn’t different. Sure she wasn’t one of the football plays hurling insults at her out loud, but maybe what she did was even worse. Because she let Quinn believe she wasn’t like everyone else. But she was. 

She picks up her things, her heart heavy on her chest. That’s not what her dads raised her to be. She had just blatantly judged Quinn behind her back and just now, to her own face. Her dads had taught her to never judge, to always be kind. That’s not the way she’s been acting with Quinn. Maybe she thought it was okay because everyone else did it too? But didn’t that just make it worse? After all, Quinn was wrong about one thing. Her family went through its share of struggles considering that she had two dads and lived in a small town in Ohio. Her dads had been the victims of homophobia all their lives, especially her daddy, Hiram, who had been kicked out of his house for it. She had discovered way too early in her life that people were gonna be angry at her family just because her dads liked to hold hands and people judged them for it. 

So it’s probably worse that Rachel judged Quinn after everything her own parents went through. 

She mopes to her next class and for the first time, she’s annoyed that she doesn’t share most of her classes with Quinn. She used to be happy that she shared this class with Finn until she realized that the only reason he sat next to her was to copy her notes. He sits down next to her and smiles at her. 

“Hey Rach,” he says with a boy-ish smile that reminds her of why she liked him in the first place. 

“Hi Finn,” she replies, trying to force a smile.

“I was wondering if you wanted to go out tomorrow night?”

She only thinks for a second, “Sure. I’d love to.” After all, she doesn’t have any other commitment and besides, her English project is done. She can go back to her old life now. 

“Awesome,” he grins and she smiles at him. 

  
  


When she walks past the bleachers on her way to find her dad’s car, she doesn’t miss the pink head amongst the other people and a cloud of smoke surrounding them. She also doesn’t miss the disgusting scent of skunk in the parking lot so she’s pretty sure Quinn isn’t smoking cigarettes right now. Either way, Rachel is strongly against it. Smoke could very easily damage her vocal chords and she really can’t afford that. They’re the only thing that makes her special. Her voice is what makes her Rachel Berry and she treats it like the most precious thing in the world. Because in a way it is. 

She almost pulls out her phone and texts something to Quinn when she sees the girl leaning against the fence with her eyes closed but then she sees the brunette sitting next to her with her hand in Quinn’s hair, stroking it softly and Rachel gets a sick feeling to her stomach. Besides, she’s already embarrassed about the two  _ read _ messages in the conversation, she doesn’t want to add a third one to the collection. 

  
  


The date with Finn is okay. Well, it’s good. It’s easy. With Finn, she’s not worried of what she has to say or if she’s saying the wrong thing. He took her to Breadstix which is not ideal but she can live with it because he holds her hand over the table and he’s paying for the meal tonight. He’s a nice guy really and he totally fits in her future. The future where she’s on red carpets and the stage and she can easily see him be by her side for this. She can see him being the guy that waits for her backstage and brings her flowers and with who she goes home with. Finn is easy and she likes that. Sure, he talks about football a little too much but he must think she talks about broadway too much so it’s only fair, right? Besides, high school football will stop being his only topic of conversation once they graduate and they move on to better things. When he figures out what he wants to do later in life and he gets a job, Rachel won’t even think of football anymore. Except maybe at the superbowl but she can live with that, besides she’s always wanted to sing the national anthem there. 

“Rach?” his voice pulls her out of her thoughts and she blushes. This is only their second date, he doesn’t need to know that she’s already thinking of what their future could be together.

“Sorry,” she says, shaking the thoughts out of her head. 

“What were you thinking about?” he asks, cutting a piece of his chicken and she frowns at the sight. 

_ Think fast,  _ ”Uh just my partner for the English project, we kind of got into an altercation today.” He gives her a look and she sighs, “an argument. I said something that kind of upset her and I shouldn’t have said it.” 

She doesn’t want to dwell on the fact that Quinn would know what an altercation is. 

“Oh. I’m sorry,” he says, “I’m sure it’ll get fixed soon. Who’s your partner anyway? I got stuck with this nerdy chick who won’t allow me to add anything. I’m not complaining though because that just means I’ll get a good grade without doing anything.”

She resists the urge to roll her eyes, “That’s… nice, I guess? I’m with Quinn,” she mumbles the last part hoping he doesn’t really hear her. 

He does though. He lifts up his head and looks at her, “You’re with Quinn? Quinn Fabray?”

“Uh huh,” she tries to say nonchalantly. 

“Rachel,” Finn sighs, “I already told you I don’t want you talking to her.”

“I’m not a child, Finn. I think I can handle a conversation with Quinn. She’s not gonna hurt me.”

“You  _ just  _ said you guys got into a fight,” Finn points out and yeah, he’s got a point there. 

“It’s just one project. It’s not even that bad.”

“Come on, you can’t be defending her right now. She’s dangerous, Rach. I don’t want you hanging out and talking to her,” he says sternly and she absolutely hates his tone right now. 

“Finn, she’s nice to me,” she says. Well, Quinn is nice except when Rachel can’t shut her mouth. She’s not even sure why she keeps defending Quinn after she was so mean to her.

“Because she probably wants to get into your pants! Listen to me, I know you always try to see the good in people but not this time, okay? She’ll just use your kindness to her advantage. She’s not like you.”

_ I thought you were different.  _

If she’s not like Quinn, does that mean she’s like Finn? 

“Even if she is, I know how to take care of myself, okay? Let’s just let it go,” she says in a tone that indicates she wants this conversation to be over.

The taller boy clenches his jaw, not ready to let it go, “I don’t like the idea of her talking to you. She’ll try to get into your pants I’m sure, she flirts with any girl. She’s probably not even interested in you. Why would she be?”

“First of all,” Rachel says with a glare, “that’s rude.”

“Come on, I didn’t mean it like--”

“Second of all, I won’t let her get “into my pants”, okay? I’m a big girl, I know how to say no. So let’s just stop talking about her and enjoy our dinner now.” 

He scowls looking away from her but then he nods and she smiles.

They spend the rest of dinner talking about everything they can that doesn’t concern Quinn and then he pays for dinner and drives her home. He tries to lean in to kiss her but he ate meat so she frowns at the thought. He looks frustrated about it but he still gives her a kiss on the cheek. She watches his car drive away and slips inside her house and finds her parents cuddled up on the couch watching Jeopardy. 

“Hey hon,” Leroy says, pausing the show, “did you have a good time?” 

She sits down on the couch next to them, “yeah, it was nice.”

“I don’t like that boy,” Hiram grumbles and Leroy slaps him on the thigh, “what? Rachel knows it already. He gave me a bad first impression and a parent’s first impression is never wrong.”

“He was just nervous, daddy.” Rachel tries to defend Finn but she knows it was futile. They’ve had this conversation a few times already. 

“Who calls an adult by their name the first time they meet them? And it wasn’t even the right name! He called me Leroy!” 

“Hiram…” 

“I’m just saying you can do better, honey.”

Rachel sighs, “I like him.”

Hiram mumbles something underneath his breath that the diva is not even sure she wants to know so she lets it go. 

“Daddy, can I ask you something?” 

“Of course.”

“Did you.. act up when your parents rejected you?” she says carefully, not sure if it’s still a tender subject. Thankfully, he doesn’t seem phased by it. 

“You mean if I behaved badly as a way to cope?” he asks and she nods. “Well… a little. When kids would make fun of me for who I am, sometimes I would get too angry and answer with my fists. I also started drinking a little too much, a little too young,” he says in a calm tone.

Rachel brings her knees to her chin, “is that why you don’t drink now?” 

He nods, “I have bad experiences with drinking. It just reminds me of when I used to do it to forget my problems.”

“Does it still hurt? What your parents did to you?” she asks vaguely but he understands what she means. Leroy takes his hand and squeezes it before pressing a kiss to his knuckles and lets his husband talk.

“Not really. It happened more than 30 years ago. I was angry for a long long time and then I was hurt for a long long time. But by now I’ve realized that people that kick out their son just because he’s gay are not people I want in my life. I’m happier than I’ve ever been with your father and I don’t need them in my life to ruin it,” he says and he opens his right arm so that Rachel can tuck herself into him, “I regret acting that way, though. Violence is never the answer, Rachel. It did not help me at all, it just made me feel worse.”

She thinks of Quinn and her pale skin with bruises all over it and she sighs. She hates that they ended up in an argument because the girl is just  _ hurting _ . Then she remembers Quinn’s harsh voice when she spit out at Rachel. Quinn didn’t want her help and who knows, Finn was probably right; the pink-haired girl just flirted with her to annoy her.

“I love you,” Rachel says, kissing his cheek and he gives her a kiss on the temple. Then she watches Jeopardy with them until she’s tired enough to go to bed. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back to a new chapter! hope you enjoy this one :) 
> 
> Dislaimer: I don't own glee or any of these characters
> 
> (btw i make social media aus on twitter way more than i write fics so if you're into that kinda thing, make sure to check out my twitter)

Things after that at school are uneventful. Quinn acts the same way she always does, which means she causes troubles in class and teases Mr Green. The only thing that’s different is that she doesn’t look at Rachel anymore. She doesn’t wink at her anymore and she doesn’t try to talk to her in class to disturb her. Rachel doesn’t mind. It was a distraction really and she wasn’t interested in Quinn so it was just annoying. She doesn’t mind that the rebel is suddenly flirting with the girl on her right instead of Rachel now. She doesn’t mind that just as the bruises on Quinn’s cheek was fading, another one appeared on top of it with a scratch that looks like it bled quite a lot. 

At the end of the month, when the teacher asks them to give him their projects, Quinn doesn’t even make a move to show that she acknowledges the fact that her and Rachel worked together on this. She just continues to read her book that’s hidden on her lap and leaves Rachel to hand it to the teacher. The diva is just thankful that they finished the project before she ruined everything by opening her mouth. 

It’s whatever. The project is now fully over and she doesn’t have to worry about her at all anymore. Besides, she already has a third date planned with Finn at the end of next week so she’s excited about that. She’s on her way to her lockers to prepare her things for the weekend when she feels it. She feels it all over her body before she realizes what happened. The cold hits her from everywhere and drips into her eyes so she’s forced to close them.

“Fuckin’ loser!” she hears a deep voice say and then a roar of laughter. She wipes the slushie out of her eyes just in time to see three hockey boys looking at her, one of them holding an empty slushie cup. Everyone’s looking at her and she feels the embarrassment deep in her body. Her teeth clatters from the cold and she should just run away to the bathroom before the red drink stains her white sweater but it’s like she’s unable to move. She doesn’t remember the last time she got slushied but she surely did not miss it. It’s like everytime it happens, it gets worse. She wipes her eyes again because the slushie keeps dripping down into her eyes and in other places that make her feel very uncomfortable.

“Hey dickwad!” she suddenly hears to her right and before she knows it, the hockey player is on the ground holding his crotch like he just received the most painful kick in his life. She looks at Quinn standing above him, turning to the two other guys as she raises her fist, “who’s next?” she asks and the two boys help their friend stand up before they run away.

The pink-haired girl looks at them and then the crowd around them, “Show’s over dumbasses. Go back to your pathetic little lives.” Instantly, the crowd disperses but Rachel’s feet are still stuck in the ground, like she can’t move. “Alright, come with me.” Quinn says in a sharp tone but the hand that takes the diva’s wrist is soft. She brings her to the closest bathroom and locks the door behind them. 

Rachel can feel her whole body shivering but she’s still confused as to what happened in the last five minutes so it’s like her mind won’t allow her to move by herself. Maybe it’s the slushie that also froze her brain completely. Quinn looks at her for a moment before she realizes that Rachel is just  _ not  _ moving so she sighs and walks over to her. 

“I’m gonna take your sweater off, okay?” Quinn says in a gentle voice, more gentle than she’d ever heard Quinn speak. She just nods and Quinn’s hands are careful not to touch her skin as she takes off the white piece of clothing. The cold air from the bathroom hits her and she starts shivering even more and she suddenly feels very vulnerable, standing in her bra alone with Quinn. 

The pink-haired girl maintains eye contact with Rachel the entire time she does it, making a point of not looking at Rachel’s body. When the sweater is off, Quinn unbuttons her blue flannel, revealing a band tee shirt underneath. Then, she pulls the flannel around Rachel’s shoulders and says “Up,” to make Rachel move her arms to slip them in the sleeves. She does as she’s told and watches hazel eyes focused on buttoning up the flannel up to the diva’s neck. She’s not sure if she’s imagining Quinn’s shaking hands, as though she’s nervous. The flannel smells like vanilla and a hint of cigarette which makes Rachel frown, but there’s also another scent that Rachel can’t identify. She thinks it might just be how  _ Quinn  _ smells.

“Quinn…” Rachel says in a whisper but she has no idea what to say after that. Why is the rebel helping her? Wasn’t she mad at her? 

The girl ignores her, she turns her back and grabs a few paper towels. She starts soaking up the slushie out of Rachel’s hair and she even starts humming doing it, like it’s the most casual thing in the world. Rachel listens carefully to try to figure out what the song is but she has no idea what it is. She keeps her eyes on Quinn’s face, analyzing every little thing as though she’s supposed to be painting her later and she needs to remember every single detail on her face. 

She looks at the nose ring in her nose and the way her nose seems like it’s  _ perfect.  _ She looks at the red gash underneath her left eye that’s on top of a blue bruise. She looks at the hazel eyes that remind Rachel of spring. They seem too soft, too fragile to be on a girl so bruised up. They remind Rachel of a forest with greenish leaves that give people hope after the cold winter. Like the diva could dive into the girl’s eyes and finally breathe the fresh air again. She looks at the eyeliner around them that makes her eyes pop even more. The only thing making the eyes look vulnerable is the red in them because of the fact that she got hurt. Unless, she’s high. Then, Rachel would feel a lot less sorry.

Quinn continues what she’s doing, like she doesn’t notice that Rachel is looking at her so intensely. Rachel doesn’t even feel her arm lifting up until she sees her own fingers grazing over the scratch on Quinn’s face. When Quinn stops what she’s doing and looks at her, she realizes how close they are. She can feel the girl’s breath on her face and she’s really thankful it doesn’t smell like cigarettes. She traces the cut with her index finger and she feels the pink-haired girl’s breath quiver when she does so. She doesn’t say anything, though and lets Rachel’s finger move across her cheek.

“Does it hurt?” Rachel whispers even though they’re alone. 

“Yeah,” Quinn breathes out. It’s the first time that Rachel gets the confirmation that Quinn  _ does _ feel pain and that she only pretends that she doesn’t notice the injuries. 

“How did it happen?” Rachel murmurs. She lets her hand fall on her lap and Quinn closes her eyes, like she misses the touch. When she opens her eyes, the vulnerability in her eyes is gone. 

“It doesn’t matter,” Quinn says. The tone is not harsh, it just isn’t as soft as when she muttered that weak  _ yeah.  _ ”You should get home. I wiped off the most I could but there’s still a lot. You’ll need a shower to clean up the rest.”

“Quinn?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you.” 

The girl clenches her jaw as she swallows hard and in that moment Rachel wonders if Quinn ever got thanked for anything. 

“Do you need a ride home?” the pink-haired girl mumbles under her breath and Rachel barely catches it. 

“No. My dad will get here soon, probably.” 

Quinn nods, looking at the ground, “okay. Cool.” 

“Do you want to--”

“I should go,” Quinn says, interrupting her and taking a step back. Maybe it’s better that Quinn interrupted her when she did because Rachel thinks she was about to invite her to come over and that can’t happen.

Rachel clears her throat, “yeah. It’s a Friday night. I’m sorry I kept you here,” she says awkwardly looking at her feet.

Quinn shakes her head, “No, it’s fine. I’m the one that brought you in here to help you. It’s just-- well I have a show tonight. I need to get ready for it.” Rachel’s head shoots up.

“A show? What? Where?”

Quinn laughs and leans her shoulder on the wall. Rachel is surprised by the way her heart reacts to the laughter. It had been a while since she heard it. She’s not sure she ever heard the girl laugh before they started doing this project. It’s still such a shock every time she listens to that sweet giggle. 

“The Mack has a band and sometimes I join when they go to bars. I don’t always go but I said I would tonight.” Quinn says nonchalantly, like it’s not making Rachel’s eyes go wide. 

“A band? You’re in a band? So you  _ can  _ sing! Do you play an instrument too? Can I hear your voice?” Rachel says enthusiastically.

Quinn smirks at her, for the first time in so long, “Careful sweetheart, it sounds like you’re trying to get to know me.”

“Well--” 

“You know where’s the best place to get to know someone?” the rebel says with a low voice. 

Rachel rolls her eyes, “Don’t say--”

“A date,” Quinn says like it’s the most wonderful thing in the world. 

Rachel puffs but she can’t help the small smile on her face, looking at Quinn’s face. She tilts her head when Rachel stares at her for too long and the diva quickly looks away. 

“Your father is probably waiting for you,” Quinn says with a teasing smile and Rachel blushes.

“Right,” she says, walking over to the door which the pink-haired girl opens for her. She murmurs a quick thank you as she walks past her. 

“Have a good weekend, good-looking.”

Rachel turns to her and nods, her lips pressed together, “you too, Quinn”.

She spots her father’s car in the parking lot and he looks annoyed about waiting for so long until he sees her drenched hair. 

“Again?” Leroy says incredulously, “That’s it. I’m pressing charges. That can’t be tolerated anymore.” 

Rachel bites her lip anxiously. Doing that would probably only make things worse. 

“No, it’s fine. I have a feeling that it won’t happen again soon,” she says, images of Quinn’s knee colliding with the boy’s crotch and her fist in the air flashing through her mind. 

Leroy glances at her curiously, “are you sure?” she nods and he sighs, “well if it happens again it’s over.”

“Okay.”

“Who’s shirt is that anyways? It doesn’t look like something you’d buy.”

She glances down and remembers that she’s wearing the dark blue and black flannel that Quinn gave her. She wraps her arms around her waist, as though she’s hugging herself.

“Uh a girl decided to help me clean up and gave me this.”

“Well, she sounds like a nice girl.”

Rachel has to stifle a laugh. Quinn? A nice girl? She’s pretty sure that’s the first time she’s ever heard someone refer to the rebel that way. While what Quinn did was nice, she’s not sure that makes her a nice girl. Come to think of it, what the pink-haired girl did was  _ really _ nice. So nice that it didn’t really make sense to Rachel. Quinn was supposed to be mad at her and here she did something that Rachel wouldn’t have ever thought she could do even if they weren’t in an argument. It looks like she didn’t even hesitate before kicking the guy between his legs and the way she had dragged Rachel to the bathroom and softly cleaned her up. The way she made sure not to look at Rachel’s body and how she just gave her her flannel and gently buttoned it up with shaking hands. The way she hadn’t pushed the singer away when she hovered her hand over the scratch and how she offered her a ride home.

Rachel has absolutely no idea who this Quinn girl really is but she has a feeling like it’s nothing close to what the rumours say about her. The thing is, she also acts like the rumours are true. She gets into fights and smokes pot sometimes and she’s definitely a troublemaker in class. Rachel rests her forehead on the window, thinking about the only thing that seems to be on her mind these days, trying to figure out the mystery that Quinn Fabray is. 

It’s only when she get changed into her pajamas later on that she realizes that she doesn’t know where the sweater that she was wearing when she got slushied is. Chewing on her lip, she opens her conversation with Quinn. She hesitates a little before typing

_ Rachel Berry: Hey. Just wanted to thank you for what you did earlier. You didn’t have to and that meant a lot to me. I was wondering if you were the one that took my shirt? I’m not sure where it is and I would prefer it if it wasn’t still in the girl’s bathroom… anyways text me back when you can and tell me when you want your flannel back. Thank you again.  _

She cringes at herself but decides not to retype it and just sends it. Besides she highly doubts the pink-haired girl will reply soon. She’s probably at her show. Because she’s in a band sometimes. Rachel gets under her covers and stares at the ceiling as she tries to imagine what Quinn’s voice sounds like. She briefly wonders if she could manage to convince Quinn to join Glee club but then quickly shakes it out of her head. Her and Finn in the same room? That sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. Still, she’d really like to sing with the rebel one day. She imagines the girl on stage with her leather jacket and messy pink hair ruffled to the side and she doesn’t know how to react when she feels her heart skipping a beat at the thought. 

She bites her lip and turns to her side, trying to think of something else. She ends up falling asleep thinking of a song she could sing in Glee club next. Except she doesn’t end up thinking of Glee a long time because the next thing she knows she’s dreaming of a troublemaker on stage. The girl is playing the guitar and looking directly at Rachel. There’s a crowd in front of her but Quinn only has eyes for Rachel, like she’s the only one that exists. She winks at her and Rachel feels herself blush instead of rolling her eyes. She wakes up at the sound of her alarm, telling her to go work out. She rubs the sleep out of her eyes and sighs. She knows what the next step is. She needs to be Quinn’s friend and there’s no stopping it. Hopefully the girl won’t just try to get laid and ditch her when she realizes Rachel isn’t like that.

Quinn had answered her at 3am in the night and Rachel can’t even begin to imagine being awake at that time of the night. She took her sleep schedule very seriously, going to bed at 9:30 every day. 

_ Quinn Fabray: Don’t worry about it, cutie. I have your sweater with me, I decided to try to wash it but unfortunately the red definitely stained it. Do you still want it back? Keep the flannel, it looks better on you ;) _

Rachel eyes the piece of clothing, neatly folded on her desk and frowns. She did like the flannel but she doesn’t know if she’d ever wear it. She reads the text again and frowns when she realized the girl had even tried to wash the sweater for her. 

_ Rachel Berry: You can bring it to me Monday, I’ll see what I can do with it. Thank you though, that was very nice. Are you sure? I can give it back to you.  _

The word nice looks like it’s brighter than the other words. It seems like  _ nice _ and  _ Quinn _ don’t even belong in the same sentence, but for some reason it’s the second time it happens.

_ Quinn Fabray: You got it.  _

_ Quinn Fabray: Keep it. I mean it. You look hot in it. You should lay off on the animal sweaters and wear more flannels. Not that you don’t look adorable in those sweaters, of course ;) _

_ Rachel Berry: I thought you said no flirting? _

_ Quinn Fabray: Can you blame me? _

She doesn’t answer after that. After all, she’s not sure what there is to say. There’s that reminder again that Quinn is only talking to her as a way to flirt with her to annoy her. 

  
  
  


She’s thinking about their next set list in Glee at her own locker on Monday morning when a body slides next to her and slaps her locker shut. She jumps in surprise and takes a step back.

“Oh my, Quinn you scared me.” Rachel says, her hand on her heart.

Quinn smirks, “Sorry about that. I just came by to hand you your sweater. Although I’m not sure what for since it’s ruined.”

Rachel takes the bag that’s being handed to her and she opens her locker and shoves it in there, “Well I just want to make sure. But thank you for bringing it to me.”

“No need to thank me. I wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to talk to a pretty girl. What else is there to do here?” she says with her eyes roaming on the students walking the halls. 

“I don’t know,” Rachel says sarcastically, “maybe learn? It is a school, you know” 

Quinn snorts, “yeah right. I’d much rather talk to a pretty girl,” she says eyeing up Rachel up and down. 

The diva rolls her eyes but she can’t help the red on her cheeks. She’s just never been that girl that’s been considered  _ pretty _ , she can’t really help but be flattered by the compliment even though it’s just mindless flirting. She takes a quick analysis of the girl and she’s almost happy when she notices that there’s no new injuries on her body. Well at least that she can see. Rachel takes the things she needs for her next few classes and closes her lockers.

“See you in English?” Rachel asks and Quinn smiles with the corner of her mouth.

“If you’re lucky,” she says before turning on her heels and walking in direction of the exit. Did she really just come to school to hand over Rachel’s sweater?

It’s English period and Quinn walks in a couple seconds after the bell rings but the teacher doesn’t even say anything. He’s obviously thinking that well, at least she’s here. Quinn gets an apple out of her jacket but instead of handing it to him, she takes a bite out of it and smiles at Mr Green. Rachel follows her with her eyes and when she sits down, the girl leans back on the chair and turns to Rachel.

She winks at her and doesn’t even spare a look at the girl on her right. It’s like everything is back to normal and Rachel is almost comforted by that.

“Hey beautiful,” she says in a hushed tone and takes another bite of the bright red apple. 

“Hi,” Rachel says, glancing at the white board where he’s writing pages to read in the book they’re reading, “no apple for him today?”

Quinn looks at her with an amused expression, “you noticed that? I knew you were obsessed with me, cupcake.” 

Rachel rolls her eyes, “It’s not too hard to miss. You make a show out of throwing it at him every day.”

Quinn chuckles, “I’m practicing for softball season. You think I’d make the team? I’d look good in an uniform, don’t you think so?” 

Rachel scoffs at her which just makes Quinn’s smile broaden, “no comment.”

“Damn, here I thought I was about to be complimented by Rachel Berry.”

Rachel gives her a look and makes sure that no one is bothered by their whispers before turning to Quinn, “what’s your deal with apples and him anyways? How do you always have apples to give him? Why didn’t you give it to him today?” 

“I was hungry today,” the pink-haired girl answers nonchalantly and she takes another bite. Rachel tries not to focus on the juice that spills onto Quinn’s chin when she bites into it. 

“That doesn’t answer my other questions.”

“Has anyone told you you ask a lot of questions?”

“Several times.”

“Well, I like it.” she says with a wink and opens her book to the page inscribed on the board. 

It takes Rachel by surprise. It’s the first time that someone hasn’t acted bothered because she talks too much. It’s just something that happens, she rambles and rambles and then people are annoyed by her and they don’t want to be her friend. She knows that’s something that bothers Finn a lot and she’s been trying really hard to cut back but it doesn’t always work. Especially with Quinn, who intrigues Rachel so much. But the rebel didn’t pull a face or act annoyed. She actually told Rachel that she liked it and winked after. It surprises Rachel so much, she doesn’t even notice the girl didn’t answer her questions at all until the hand of the class when Quinn stops her before she’s out the class.

  
  


“I bumped into him at the grocery store one day while we were both buying apples.”

Rachel pauses, waiting for the end of the story but it looks like the rebel is done, “Wait, that’s it?”

Quinn laughs loudly, “That’s it. I just like to mess with him.”

“You’re an idiot,” Rachel jokes without thinking and then her eyes widen when she realized she probably should not have said that.

Quinn just smiles. 

“I think you might be right. ”

  
  
  


After that, they start talking everyday in English. Rachel even finds herself waiting all day for those little moments they share in that class. They get caught a few times but Quinn always takes the blame and Mr Green sighs and moves on to his lessons. They don’t talk about anything interesting because Quinn has the talent of never actually answering Rachel’s questions. It drives the brunette absolutely crazy but she almost enjoys the way it keeps her on her toes. It just makes her want to know the troublemaker more. She wants to know what she sounds like when she sings and she wants to know how she gets into these fights and how she gets injured and she wants to know what the girl does when she’s alone. 

She goes to the bowling alley for a third date with Finn Friday night and it’s boring. She’s not good at bowling and Finn is so he’s cocky the entire time. She finds herself wondering if Quinn is doing a show right now. If she’s singing in front of a roaring crowd and sleeping with random girls. The thought angers her almost more than Finn’s scream of joy when he ends up winning the two games. 

A week later, Quinn walks into the class before it even rings and Mr Green stop what he’s doing and looks at the clock, as if he can’t believe the girl is early. He gives her an amused look and Quinn shrugs, with a smile on her face. She walks over to her usual seat, her eyes never leaving Rachel. The diva doesn’t know a lot of things about Quinn but she does know that the girl loves eye contact. It sends shivers down Rachel’s spine as she looks back at enigmatic hazel eyes. Finally, Quinn sits down and pauses before winking which makes Rachel bite her lip, rolling her eyes. 

“What’s up, buttercup,” the pink-haired says with a grin. 

“You’re early today,” Rachel answers.

“Well, when you have a reason to start coming to class, it makes it more interesting,” Quinn says, winking a second time. 

“Is that what I am? A reason to come to class?” Rachel says almost cheekily. 

“Of course. The heart wants what it wants or else it does not care.” Rachel’s heart skips two beats and she feels her stomach flip at the words. No one has ever said anything that resembled this to her and she doesn’t know how she’s supposed to react. Quinn looks at her intently and then she says, “Emily Dickinson.” 

“What?” Rachel says, confused.

“That line. It’s from Emily Dickinson.” 

“Oh.” Rachel says and the bell rings so Mr Green starts talking about _ Catcher in the Rye.  _ They did a project on her together and now here she is  _ quoting  _ her to Rachel? The diva is not sure what to think of it but she does know that quoting poetry is not really… badass. It’s almost too unlike Quinn but she also kind of loves it. 

It’s at the end of the class that she remembers that Quinn insinuated Rachel was the reason she came to class. She also notices that she hasn’t seen a new injury on Quinn’s body in a long time. The bruise on her cheek finally has time to fade and her cuts are healing. Rachel likes that. 

Quinn actually waits for her to gather her things and Rachel tries to hurry up to not make the girl wait. It’s lunch and she’s supposed to meet Kurt and Mercedes at their table and they’d probably flip out if they saw her talking with the rebel but she doesn’t care. The more Quinn talks to her in class, the more Rachel finds her… fun. Which is a really good surprise, it was just unexpected. 

“So,” Quinn starts and if Rachel didn’t do any better, Rachel would say she seemed a little nervous, “I told the Mack I would come do to the show tonight.”

“Oh?” Rachel says when they step out of the class. She’s wondering why Quinn is telling her this. 

Quinn clears her throat, “Yeah. It’s at this club not too far from here. It’s easy to commute.” 

“Well that’s good,” Rachel says, still unsure. 

Quinn looks at her like she can’ believe Rachel isn’t catching on. They’re almost at the cafeteria by now. 

“Do you want to go?” Quinn asks bluntly and Rachel was definitely not expecting  _ that _ .

“What?”

“I’m inviting you to come see me. You wanted to know if I can sing, right? Here’s your chance.” 

“Are you serious?” The diva says, suddenly really excited. 

Quinn smiles with the corner of her mouth, “yeah. Are you still interested?” 

Rachel jumps on her feet and takes hold of Quinn’s forearms, “of course! I’m so excited! Oh my God!” she says with a grin that Quinn reciprocates.

“Alright, cool. I’ll text you the address.” the pink-haired girl says and Rachel nods eagerly. Quinn is about to walk away when Rachel thinks of something. 

“This is not a date, right?” 

The rebel laughs and starts walking away backwards, “of course it is, cupcake. See you tonight.” 

Rachel can’t even pretend to hide the smile on her face. She knows it’s not a date but she’s getting used to Quinn’s flirting and it’s actually pretty funny. She makes her way to her usual table trying to think of what she could wear to a club that doesn’t scream  _ I’m a 16 year old loser _ . Maybe it’d be the right time to bring back Quinn’s flannel. 

“What are you smiling about?” Mercedes suddenly asks and Rachel looks up at them with wide eyes. She hadn’t even noticed that she arrived at their table and she didn’t even know she was still smiling. 

“Oh. Nothing,” Rachel says, nonchalantly. It’s not that she doesn’t want to tell them, it’s just that well they’re gossip hounds and they definitely have their prejudices against Quinn and Rachel is honestly guilty of that too but she’s obviously trying to change that. She’s just not in the mood to hear their criticism about the troublemaker.

They both narrow their eyes, “tell us what you’re thinking of, Berry.” Mercedes says.

Rachel shakes her head, “It’s nothing! I just got invited somewhere and I’m happy about it.”

“Where? Oh wait if it’s a date with Finn, I don’t wanna know,” Kurt frowns, “I don’t want to know about my step brother’s pathetic little attempts at heterosexual dating.” 

Rachel rolls her eyes, “well then I won’t say anything.” Rachel lies easily, after all she is an incredible actress. 

Kurt mimics disgust and he goes back to talking about this guy he’s been talking with these past few weeks. Rachel tunes him out instantly and gets back to thinking about which skirt would fit well with Quinn’s flannel. 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I hope you guys are still enjoying this story and that this chapter is to your liking! I've been a lot of comments on twitter saying people like my fic so if you are one of those people who told me that: thank you so much it means a lot to me!!! Without further ado: enjoy this chapter!
> 
> Disclaimer: as always, glee or the characters in this story do not belong to me!

Of all days to be late, Rachel is not really a fan of it happening today. She proudly says that she’s never late to anything, one of her best qualities after being an astounding singer and actress. Today is definitely her unlucky day because Quinn clearly told her to show at the  _ Cloud Nine Lounge  _ starts at 8pm sharp. Not only was it the first time ever that Rachel made an exception on her very strict sleeping schedule, she’s also late for the very first time at something. She told her dads that she was going to Kurt’s and would probably come back tomorrow and since it doesn’t really happen often that Rachel Berry has plans on a Friday night, they agreed easily. She only feels a little bad about lying to them. Maybe Quinn really is a bad influence? She had barely made it in time for the bus and she didn’t have time to clearly look at where the bar really was or what it consisted of. She didn’t have a fake ID so she really hoped the bar was lousy enough to let her through but not lousy enough that she was… scared of the people there. She saw some of the people Quinn hung out with under the bleachers and they don’t look like the most approachable people on Earth. Weirdly, she’s never felt that way about Quinn. Even when she came back with bruised knuckles indicating she had been in a fight. 

She steps out of the bus at her stop at 8:30 and walks a few minutes before finally seeing the building she’s supposed to go in. The sun has started to set and she finds that maybe going here alone wasn't the smartest idea. It’s definitely a poorer part of Lima and she’s never really been there before. She shudders a little, wishing she had brought a jacket to put on top of the flannel but it’s too late now. 

She walks to the entrance of the building that’s illuminated with bright pink fluorescent lights. She reads the name of the bar and looks at the female symbol next to it. She doesn’t think of it and makes her way to the bouncer who takes one look at her and decides that she looks somewhat old enough to be here. 

As soon as she’s in, she’s hit with the smell of sweat and her ears are hit by the sound of loud music. There’s a few taller people that obstruct the stage and she can’t see who’s singing. Whoever it is though, doesn’t sound like what Quinn would sound like. She uses her shortness to an advantage and slips in between sweaty bodies that barely notice her as they continue dancing. The song comes to an end and over the loud claps and yells, she hears a female voice talk

“Thank you guys! As always, we’re EverMoist and don’t forget to grab a copy of our EP if you guys like what you hear! For now though, I know you guys that are regulars are really psyched about this because we have our very own Quinn Fabray today and we all know she doesn’t come here often so when she does we have to celebrate that, right?”

Rachel gets over her frown of the band’s name being  _ EverMoist  _ when she hears Quinn’s name. She manages to find a place at the bar where she can sit and see the stage and her eyes finally find Quinn. 

Her breath almost catches in her throat. The girl is wearing a leather jacket with tight black jeans and her hair is ruffled to the side. She looks almost the same way she does at school, but this time she has sweat running down her forehead, more eyeliner around her eyes and a guitar strap draped around her neck where it’s holding a blue electric guitar. So she  _ does  _ play an instrument. The whole crowd seems to really know who Quinn is because they’re all shouting in excitement that she’s there. She has a grin on her face and she wipes her forehead before approaching the mic in front of her. 

“Alright people, if you know this song, don’t hesitate to sing along. Let’s make these walls shake!” 

She immediately starts playing her guitar with skilled fingers and the whole club instantly starts cheering. Rachel has no idea what that song even is but it seems to be a song that everyone else knows. Quinn opens her mouth and then she starts singing and Rachel wishes she could say she was ready. 

_ Scotty doesn't know that Fiona and me _

_ Do it in my van every Sunday _

_ She tells him she's in church but _

_ She doesn't go _

_ Still she's on her knees and _

_ Scotty doesn't know _

Rachel’s jaw drops as she hears the song come out of Quinn’s mouth and she’s really not a fan of the word choices and the vulgarity of it but she can’t help but be mesmerized by Quinn’s voice. It’s low and raspy like she’s been singing all night and her voice has started to strain. Something that Rachel could easily fix with a few training lessons from her. Still, it still sounds amazing and the diva is unable to take her eyes off the girl on the stage. Quinn looks in her element, winking at a few girls in the front row and playing her guitar. 

The energy in the room is unlike anything else Rachel has ever experienced and she feels herself enthralled by it. She takes her eyes off Quinn for a few seconds to look at the roaring crowd and it takes her an embarrassingly long time before she realizes there’s only girls here. This is a  _ lesbian  _ bar. Quinn had brought her to a lesbian bar. She doesn’t know if she’s into the idea or she’s against it. Quinn’s voice brings her back to reality before she can make a decision.

_ I can't believe he's so trustin' _

_ While I'm right behind you thrustin' _

_ Fiona's got him on the phone _

_ And she's tryin' not to moan _

_ It's a three way call _

_ And he knows nothin', nothin' _

She says  _ moan _ breathlessly as if she’s saying the word in a whimper and it makes the crowd go absolutely wild and Rachel can’t deny it has an effect on her too. As she looks at Quinn on the stage, lights making her look like she’s the only person here and sweat shining on her forehead. As she finishes the song and lets the guitar go to run her fingers through her hair, she sticks her tongue out as she pants after singing so passionately and Rachel is hit by how  _ beautiful _ Quinn is. The realization hits her everywhere as she feels her heart speed up. Quinn still has the hint of a bruise on her cheek and her knuckles but she’s so effortlessly attractive and  _ stunning _ . Her pale baby face looks almost way too innocent to be attached to this dark brooding look but she makes it work. Her hazel eyes piercing through black makeup make her look unapproachable but at the same time you can’t help but want to be close to her. She’s…. really hot. That’s pretty much the only word Rachel can think of right now. 

The leader of the band, The Mack she assumes, steps at the front again and sings a few songs but Rachel can’t take her eyes off Quinn who’s now just playing guitar on the side. She can’t stop her fascination now that she realized truly how beautiful Quinn is and on top of that, how lovely her voice is. Sure, Rachel would not have chosen a song like that but somehow, Quinn made it fit with her voice and it sounded amazing. 

Their set ends and immediately the whole crowd starts cheering loudly again. They’re obviously a band that comes here often because they seem to have people that know their songs already. She watches as Quinn sets her guitar on the stand and stays on the stage a little to talk to some of the band members. She watches as one of the brunettes takes Quinn’s hand and leans closer to whisper something in her ear. The pink-haired girl snickers and whispers something back in the girl’s ear which makes her wink. Rachel gets a sick feeling to her stomach, wondering if Quinn has ever slept with this girl. 

Not that it’s any of her business. She just doesn’t understand how someone would be able to sleep with someone they have no feelings for. She’s not sure she’ll really wait until 25 until her first time but it will certainly not be now because she wants her first time to be with someone… special. So Rachel just can’t understand how Quinn can do this, just sleep with whoever she wants to get what she wants. 

They finally step off stage and she watches Quinn’s movements with keen eyes as the rebel talks to a few girls. Rachel stays in her seat and she sees a taller girl than Quinn lean into her and whisper something in her ear. What is it with people whispering to Quinn anyways? Quinn shakes her head and holds up one finger and takes out her phone. She seems to be typing something and seconds later, Rachel feels her phone vibrate.

_ Quinn Fabray: You there?  _

To say Rachel is surprised that Quinn had refused whatever the girl said to text Rachel is an understatement. She gets up from the stool, smoothes her black skirt and without answering Quinn’s text, she makes her way over there. She’s about to be in the pink-haired girl’s field of view when an arm blocks her and a tall woman looks at her, “You can’t go back there, little girl. VIP access only,” she says in a bored tone.

She pouts at the woman and she’s about to retort when a voice speaks out.

“Cupcake!” Quinn says, walking over to her and taking Rachel’s arm, pulling her closer, “you made it.” 

Rachel glances at the older woman who rolls her eyes and the diva feels a strange sense of pride. 

“Of course, Quinn. I said I would be there.”

Quinn looks at her, her pupils dilated from the adrenaline with a huge grin on her face. Rachel isn’t sure she’s ever seen the girl look so happy before. 

“It’s really cool that you’re here.”

“I’m glad I came. I ran a little late but I was just in time to hear your song.”

Quinn licks her bottom lip and Rachel is hit by how attractive she is all over again, “What did you think?” she asks a bit smugly. 

“You’re… great, Quinn. You certainly knew how to entertain a crowd, you have great stage presence and your voice is amazing. I loved it,” Rachel says seriously and Quinn looks like she wasn’t expecting to hear that. The diva can’t tell if the red on her cheeks is from how hot she is or if she’s blushing. Probably the former. 

“Thanks, doll.” Quinn says sincerely and then she puts on her smirk again, “I knew you could compliment me. See, I have you wrapped around my finger already,” she teases. 

Rachel rolls her eyes, “I can appreciate a good singer, Quinn. As a great singer myself.”

Quinn just smiles at her, “I think it’s unfair that you heard me sing when I’m just a good singer and you’re a great one.” 

Rachel is about to answer when the brunette who whispered something to Quinn on stage suddenly appears when she wraps her arm around Quinn’s waist. 

“Who’s the chick, Q?” she says, smacking her chewing gum loudly. 

“Rach, this is Emily. Em, this is Rachel, my date,” Quinn says with a wink towards Rachel. 

The diva scoffs, “not your date.”

“Well, kinda.” Quinn says with a teasing smile and Rachel can’t help but smile while shaking her head. 

Emily just looks bored, “Alright well while you guys figure that out, I’m gonna go smoke a cig. You coming? Chloe’s gonna be there too and I know she wants to talk to you after what you guys did last time,” she says with a wink, sticking her tongue out. Rachel shifts awkwardly on her feet, suddenly very uncomfortable. 

Quinn glances at Rachel before turning her attention back to Emily, “No, it’s cool. Go without me, besides I don’t know what Chloe told you we did but she’s exaggerating.” 

“Well she told me some details and since I’ve been in her position before…I can tell they’re true.”

“Shut up, Em.” Quinn says, though she doesn’t sound mad. She’s just teasing her.

“Make me, Fabray.”

“Last time you said that, it ended badly for both of us so let’s not do that again,” the pink-haired girl says with a laugh and Emily laughs too. 

Rachel looks at her feet like they’re the most interesting in the world, trying to ignore the conversation happening right now. She wraps her arms around her waist, around Quinn’s flannel, trying to pretend that she’s not there. 

“Okay well, I’m gonna join Chlo outside. If you and your girl change your mind, you know where we’ll be,” Emily says and pokes Quinn’s nose before smiling at Rachel and walking away. 

Quinn watches her go and Rachel clenches her jaw, a deep angry feeling in her stomach for some reason. The pink-haired girl finally turns back to Rachel and she smiles as if nothing is the matter.

“Sorry about that, Emily likes to remind everyone that she and I kissed once,” she says with a roll of her eyes and it doesn’t make Rachel feel better. The thing is now she’s wondering what it would be like to kiss a girl, especially Quinn. She’s always known she was bisexual but considering the very few out people in this town, she’s never kissed another girl. If the rumours are true and Quinn does sleep with that many people, she must be… talented. Rachel crosses her arms and shakes the thoughts out of her head. It’s just Quinn’s flirting getting to her head, she’s not interested. She has Finn. 

“Oh,” Rachel says and she remembers Emily’s words about a certain Chloe, “you can join them you know, I should head home anyways.” 

Quinn frowns at her and ruffles her hair before looking her up and down, “I told you you looked hot in that flannel,” she says with a smirk, ignoring what Rachel just said. The diva can’t help the blush on her face.

“Thanks.” 

Quinn smiles and wraps her arm around Rachel’s shoulders to guide her towards the exit. Rachel lets her do it surprisingly and watches as Quinn greets a few people on their way out. 

“So… you come to this bar a lot?” Rachel says once they’re outside. The cold air hits her hard since it was so hot inside. She shivers a little and Quinn instantly takes off her leather jacket and hands it to Rachel, “Aren’t you going to be cold?” she asks even though she’s already putting on the jacket. 

“Don’t worry about me, beautiful,” she says with a wink, “but yes I do come here quite often I guess. The Mack’s band performs here every Friday night and when I’m not on stage, I’m in the crowd.”

Rachel nods, looking at the pink neon lights surrounding the building, “That’s… nice. I wasn’t expecting it to be.. you know... “ she trails off and Quinn looks at her with an amused smile. 

“A lesbian bar? Well it’s easier to find girls there you know,” Quinn winks at her again.

“I didn’t expect a bar like this to be so close to here.”

“Seems like there’s more girls looking for girls here than we thought,” the rebel says slowly, biting her lip.

Rachel crosses her arms, “Is there a way to turn off your flirting or is it always there?”

Quinn chuckles a little, “It’s always there for pretty girls, cupcake.” Rachel rolls her eyes.

“How can I make it stop?”

“Go on a date with me.”

“No.”

“Then I guess I’ll never stop.”

Rachel huffs and looks away from Quinn who just looks smug because she won the argument. She’s not interested in becoming one of those girls that Quinn sleeps with and never talks to after. She has more self-respect than that. She might be the first person to ever resist Quinn for some reason. There’s something special about the troublemaker because everyone at school acts like she’s some freak but she’s also incredibly popular with the girls who seem to like when the pink-haired girl gives them attention. Even Rachel can’t pretend she doesn’t feel special that Quinn seems to have an affinity for her. 

“Your jacket smells like pot,” Rachel says childishly and Quinn lets out a laugh. 

“Sorry about that. That would probably be the Skanks’ fault.”

“Smells gross,” the singer whines. 

“You can give it back to me.”

Rachel ignores what Quinn just said and looks at her, “Just the Skanks’ fault? Not yours?”

Quinn has a cheeky smile on her face, “Might be mine a bit too. I know how to have some fun.” 

“That’s gross.”

Quinn takes a step closer to Rachel, “You telling me you never had fun, cupcake?” 

“Not this kind of fun,” the diva says firmly. 

Quinn laughs again and Rachel hates how much she likes hearing the rebel laugh, “I’m not surprised. You’re too much of a good girl.” 

Rachel raises an eyebrow, challenging Quinn, “what’s that supposed to mean?” 

“Well,” Quinn says, starting to walk in circles around Rachel which almost makes her dizzy, “it means that you’re too much of a good girl to do that kind of stuff. You’re the kind of girl who studies weeks in advance for an exam that they already know they’ll do well in, the kind of girl who goes to bed the same time every night to wake up at the same time every morning and you’re the kinda girl who’s never going to have a crisis about who she is because she’ll already be 25 and more successful than any other loser in this town will be in their whole entire lives,” she pauses when she’s behind the brunette and it forces her to turn around to look into the hazel eyes reflecting the neon lights, “and that’s a good thing. A boring thing, but good. It just means you’ll never try to get high,” she finishes with an amused smile. 

Rachel looks at her with her mouth slightly ajar. Quinn has always had the capacity to make her speechless and it drives her crazy. She’s not even sure if she should be offended by what she said or not. 

“The…. the smoke is bad for my vocal chords,” Rachel stammers out and she feels incredibly lame right now, standing in front of this girl who performs at a bar whenever she wants and gets any girl she wants. This girl who goes to bed at 3 am and ditches school and gets into fights and dyes her hair pink just because she can. They’re so different but here they are, almost 10pm, outside of this bar, standing in front of each other. Quinn just smiles at her. A smile far too innocent to look like it belongs to the person all those rumours are about. 

“I don’t doubt it,” she says and it’s silent again. 

“Usually I’m asleep by now,” Rachel says like she’s trying to prove something to Quinn but she’s not even sure what.

“So you’re out past your bedtime just for me? Aw cupcake, you flatter me too much,” the rebel says with a hand on her heart and Rachel wants to prove her wrong. She wants to prove to Quinn that she’s not this boring good girl. She wants to stop feeling lame in front of someone she considers so effortlessly  _ cool _ .

In 20 years, is she going to look back at her high school experience and realize that the only cool thing she’s ever done was tell her parents she was at Kurt’s house for a sleepover when instead she was at a lesbian bar with the troublemaker of McKinley High? The thought of that terrifies her. Everything Rachel has ever done was for her future and she’s starting to realize she doesn’t really do anything for the present. Even when she’s on a date with Finn, she just thinks of how he would be good eye candy on the red carpet next to her for when she’s famous.

She never thinks about that when she’s with Quinn. When she’s with her, she thinks of the  _ right now _ , the way she’s feeling at that very moment and the emotions the pink-haired girl sparks in her, whether they’re good or bad. Quinn acts like there’s no tomorrow most of the time. Maybe it’s because she thinks there won’t be one one day. Rachel considers herself pretty impulsive when she talks, but even she can’t believe the next words that come out of her mouth.

“I want to get high.”

Quinn’s eyes bulge out of her face at the same time as Rachel’s and the pink-haired girl chokes out, “you want to what?” like she’s not sure she heard the brunette right. The diva doesn’t blame her.

Rachel opens her mouth and closes it a few times before deciding that she meant what she said, “I don’t want to be this boring girl that does what’s expected of her for the rest of her life. Give me weed or something,” she says and Quinn laughs at her which makes her pout. 

“Babe, I already told you there’s nothing wrong with that life.” Quinn says, running her fingers through her hair. Rachel almost gets mesmerized by the way it falls but she snaps out of it quickly when Quinn speaks again, “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Why not?” 

“Because you’re doing it to prove something to me and yourself. You’re not doing it because you want to.” Quinn says simply and Rachel presses her lips together and crosses her arms. How can Quinn be able to read her so easily when Rachel can’t read her at all? It seems unfair. 

“You don’t know that,” she lies. 

“Yes I do. I know because of your adorable little pout on your face right now that proves me right,” Quinn says and Rachel huffs, resisting the urge to stomp her foot. 

“Look I don’t want to look back at my high school experience and realize that I was this loser for no reason. I don’t want to look back at it and just remember me freezing to death in the girl’s bathroom trying to clean slushie out of my hair because I’m considered lame and the jocks are cool. I don’t want to remember the fact that I barely have any real friends and no one actually wants to hang out with me because they can’t stand to be around me for more than one period. Just let me… make memories. Good memories,” she says pleading Quinn, her throat tight with emotions. 

Quinn looks at her for a long time. Without saying anything, she just stares deeply into Rachel’s big brown eyes as if she’s analyzing her. Once again, the singer feels as though she’s an open book when she’s faced with Quinn and she’s not sure if she likes it or not. 

“Okay,” Quinn decides on. 

Rachel’s jaw drops, “O-Okay?”

Quinn nods and looks up to where she can see the faint stars in the dark sky, “I said okay.” 

Rachel gulps, “Okay.”

Quinn looks back at her and she looks serious, “but you’re not doing it alone or with one of these losers from your singing group. You’re doing it with me. Where I can make sure you’re alright the entire time,” she says and Rachel nods solemnly at the end of her speech, “We’ll do it next week. My mom is working the night shift Friday so she’ll come back early in the morning the next day. You’ll sleep at my house and you’ll go home when there’s absolutely no effects anymore.” Rachel nods again. 

“Capisce,” she responds and she regrets the word, feeling even more lame, until Quinn smiles and shakes her head gently. She smiles back at the rebel and she sees the hazel eyes drop down to her lips. Rachel’s heart skips a beat and she licks her lips subconsciously. 

“Cupcake if I could, I would kiss you right now.” Quinn utters, still staring at her lips. Rachel swallows with difficulty and for a moment, she lets herself think of what it would feel like to kiss Quinn Fabray but images of bruises on her body and her in a fight and finally, a boy-ish dopey smile flashes into her mind and she takes a step back. 

Instantly, she sees a flicker of hurt in Quinn’s eyes but it’s gone before Rachel can think anything of it. The pink-haired girl smiles before she looks away from the diva, staring at the cars passing in front of them. Rachel notices that it didn’t quite reach her eyes and she surprises herself that she even caught sight of that. Maybe she’s starting to know more Quinn than she thought. Rachel looks at the girl’s side profile for a long time and when the pink-haired girl stares back, her face is completely blank. All hope that Rachel had of identifying what Quinn feels like is gone just like that. 

She does feel some sort of pull towards Quinn but that’s exactly what the rebel wants. she wants to seduce Rachel so she can have her way with her and drop her after. Quinn checks her phone and answers a quick text before sighing. 

“Let’s get you home, beautiful,” she says, leaving Rachel to follow after her. The diva jogs to catch up to her, she looks back at the rest of the members of Quinn’s band still smoking outside the bar. 

“Don’t you wanna say goodbye to them?” 

Quinn opens the passenger door for Rachel and when the brunette sits down, Quinn leans really closely and for a moment Rachel thinks she’s really going to kiss her but instead the girl whispers, “don’t tell them but they weren’t the reason I wanted to come tonight,” she says with a wink.

Rachel watches Quinn circle around the car to sit in the driver seat and she decides to tease back a little, playing with it, “Oh yeah? You were trying to impress a girl in there?” she says playfully. 

“Definitely. I have a feeling it worked but she won’t admit it.” 

Rachel feels her heart drop but Quinn doesn’t let her say anything else, she turns up the volume of the radio and starts singing along to the song playing right now. It’s like no matter what she says, Quinn always has the perfect reply that leaves her speechless. She doesn’t know how she does that but it drives Rachel crazy. 

It’s silent for a moment as Rachel listens to Quinn lightly singing to a song she doesn’t know and the sound of her fingers tapping on the steering wheel but then, the diva seems to remember the very reason why she went out tonight and she recalls the way Quinn had looked on that stage as she sang with so much passion, sweat dripping down her forehead. 

“You were really great tonight, Quinn,” Rachel says almost shyly. 

Quinn glances at her, “yeah? Feels like an honor to have you say that to me.”

“You haven’t heard me sing.”

“I still know you’re the greatest.”

“Yeah, I pretty much am,” Rachel admits and she loves the laugh that comes out of Quinn’s mouth at that moment. 

“I’m glad you had fun on our date, doll.”

Rachel rolls her eyes, “I had fun tonight, Quinn. Don’t make me regret it,” she retorts and Quinn chuckles as she turns on Rachel’s street. Rachel is almost sad that the night is over and that Quinn and her have to part ways but she’s not about to invite her in at 10:30 pm when she’s supposed to be at Kurt’s right now, certainly not with the school’s bad girl. Rachel already has the period cramp excuse ready. She doesn’t like lying to her fathers, but she has a feeling tonight was definitely worth it. 

Quinn parks in front of her lawn and Rachel unbuckles her seat belt and makes a move to open the door but Quinn grabs her wrist. Rachel turns to her, a confused look on her face. The pink-haired girl visibly swallows before smiling softly, perhaps the softest smile she’s ever seen on the rebel’s face. 

“For what it’s worth cupcake, I can stand being around you for more than just one period. I’m not sure that means a lot considering who I am but it’s true.” 

Rachel takes a moment to understand what the girl is talking about but she remembers her little ramble outside the bar and she feels her stomach flip, “thanks,” she says sincerely but she’s not sure what else to say. Quinn nods and lets go of her and makes a gesture, telling her she can get out. 

“Goodnight, Quinn.”

“Goodnight, good-looking.” 

She feels Quinn’s eyes on her until she’s fully inside the house and she watches through the frosted windows as the car drives away. She bites her lip as she thinks of the plans they made for next week. Next Friday not only will Rachel sleep over at Quinn’s house but they’ll get… high. The thought of it scares her completely but she finds herself… not that scared. Only nervous because she’s not sure what to expect. She’s 16 years old, it’s time to experiment, right? Everyone does it at least once in their lives and who else to do it with this… girl that she actually barely knows and that gets into fights but somehow Rachel trusts. She rests her forehead on the door and groans until she’s startled by a voice behind her.

“Rachel?”

She jumps and turns around quickly, “Daddy, you scared me.” 

Hiram chuckles, “sorry sweetie. We weren’t expecting to see you back tonight.”

She gulps and keeps her voice steady as she says, “I’m having pretty bad period cramps so I decided to come back home. I got a ride back home,” she says, holding her stomach to make it more believable. 

Her father winces at the mention of periods and he nods, “well okay. Take some painkillers and get a good night’s sleep. It’s already pretty late.” She nods and walks past him until he calls her name out again and she turns to look at him, “whose jacket is this?”

She looks down and for the second time in a short period of time, she remembers she forgot to give Quinn her piece of clothing back. She hopes the smell of pot coming from it is faint enough that her father won’t smell it because if so, she’s definitely in trouble. 

“Oh um Kurt got it. He’s trying… different styles of clothing lately, he lent it to me because it was cold,” she says lamely but Hiram shrugs and nods, accepting the lie easily. Was it always this easy to lie to parents? “Well… goodnight,” she says, blowing him a kiss because she doesn’t want to risk him smelling the jacket. 

As soon as she’s out of her clothes and she’s ready to get in bed, she grabs her phone and texts Quinn.

_ Rachel Berry: Hey I hope you got home okay. You forgot your leather jacket (probably on purpose right ;) ) and I’m telling you I will force you to take it back. You suit the look way better. Thank you for this evening, Quinn. _

It’s not until she presses send that she realizes how flirty it sounds and how it sounds like what you usually say when you come back from a date. Quinn doesn’t answer right away and she can’t even deny how sad she is when she sees that the rebel still hasn’t texted her back when she wakes up the next morning. 

  
  


She definitely can’t pretend that it doesn’t hurt when the final bell rings in English class and that the pink-haired girl hadn’t come through the door. Mr Green glances at Rachel like she’d know what’s up with that but she just uncomfortably looks away from him to stare out the window and sighs. It had been almost three weeks with Quinn coming to class every day on time and Rachel isn’t sure what prompted Quinn to not continue her streak this week. They had fun Friday night, right? It wasn’t because of her she hopes and she especially hopes that nothing has happened to Quinn. 

When English class ends and she makes her way to the cafeteria, she feels the disappointment heavy on her chest and thinks of the leather jacket sitting in Rachel’s bag that she wanted to give back to Quinn. She’s trying not to think of the worst case scenarios but with Quinn, you just never know. The last time something like this happened, the pink-haired girl showed up to school with even more injuries. She doesn’t want that to happen. She spots Kurt and Mercedes and forces a smile. 

“Hey,” they both greet are at the same time.

“Hi friends, I hope you both had a lovely totally normal weekend,” she says and immediately cringes. It’s almost like she can imagine Quinn looking at her with an amused smile on her face and Rachel shakes the thought out of her head. Kurt and Mercedes both look at each other before looking strangely at Rachel.

“Uh… did you have a lovely totally normal weekend, Rach?” Mercedes asks and Rachel gulps.

“Well of course I did. Nothing happened, it was absolutely normal and I didn’t do anything out of the ordinary. I barely even got out of the house! Especially Friday night where I just watched television with my dads all night and I didn’t go anywhere,” she rambles and they both stare at her with blank eyes until Kurt clears his throat,

“Well. Good for you, I guess,” he says and then he launches into a story about something that doesn’t interest Rachel and she spends the rest of the lunch period in her head, remembering the way Quinn had looked at her before she said she would kiss her if she could. She made the right choice by stepping back. She still has no idea who this Quinn person really is and with all the rumours surrounding her, she’s only setting herself up to get her heart broken if she gives in to her. 

She texts Quinn a few times but she really doesn’t want to seem too clingy in the troublemaker’s eyes so she refrains herself from going too crazy. 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all! I'm back with another chapter and i hope you guys enjoy this one! I personally adored writing an interaction between Quinn and Finn so I hope you guys like it too lmao. I never know what to say in those notes and I personally believe, like me, none of you actually read it so let's just get this over with, shall we?
> 
> disclaimer: i don't own glee or any of these characters

She doesn’t have to wait too much until she sees Quinn again because the morning after, the first thing she sees is pink hair talking to Santana and Brittany. She feels her heart lift up in her chest at the sight, knowing that if Quinn is here, it means she’s okay. She had just started to really overthink last night and images of Quinn passed out in a ditch were not fun thoughts. The girl’s back is facing Rachel as she leans against a row of lockers and the two cheerios look at her with sparkles in their eyes and Rachel wouldn’t be surprised if she found out that Quinn was flirting right now. The thought makes her clench her jaw and she goes to her locker before walking up to Quinn right away. 

She doesn’t like the idea that Quinn can flirt with just anyone without caring. Not that she  _ wants _ the rebel to flirt with her, that has nothing to do with it. She grabs her things for her next classes until she hears footsteps coming her way and she looks to her right to see Finn coming. She pretends not to notice the disappointment she feels at that moment. This is Finn and she  _ wants _ to see Finn because they’re… dating? They have gone on three dates and it can’t mean nothing, right? 

“Hey Rach,” he says happily, “I was wondering if you were free this Friday?”

“She’s not,” a voice speaks out from her left before Rachel can respond. The diva turns her head and she’s met with Quinn who looks… awful. She has a yellow and blue bruise on her jaw on the right side like she had been punched and she has a cut on her eyebrow that looks like it had been bleeding up until a minute ago. Rachel’s eyes widen and she automatically reaches to cup Quinn’s cheek.

“Quinn! What happened to you? Are you okay?” she says, her voice heavy with worry as she makes the girl slightly turn her head so she can see the bruise better. “Why didn’t you text me back? Did you get into a fight? It looks like it hurt, do you want me to grab you some ice? because it really looks like it hurts.” She can still feel Finn’s presence behind her but right now all she’s worrying about is how messed up Quinn looks. 

“I’m fine, cupcake,” Quinn says with a light chuckle and she grabs Rachel’s hand to pull it away from her cheek and she doesn’t let go before squeezing it, “You should see the other guy,” she adds with a wink and Rachel actually believes her. There probably is another guy roaming around right now looking pretty beaten up too. 

“Are you sure because--” 

“She said she’s fine,” Finn cuts her off rudely but he’s not even looking at her, he’s just looking at Quinn with angry eyes, “you can leave, Fabray. I got this.”

Quinn scoffs, “what do you “got”? There’s nothing to get. I’m just talking to Rachel and telling you she’s not free this Friday,” she says dryly and Rachel looks at them back and forth, pretty uncomfortable being physically in the middle of this. 

“And why would she not be?” 

“Because she’s going to my house,” Quinn says, glancing at Rachel and smiling with the corner of her mouth. It’s barely there but Rachel knows it is and she can’t help but reciprocate it.

Finn crosses his arms, “no she’s not.”

Rachel blinks at him and finally joins the conversation, “yes I am,” she says firmly and this time he’s the one that gets a surprised look on his face.

“What?” he says dumbly, his arms falling to his sides. 

“You heard her, Hudson, now get moving,” she says in a menacing tone and Rachel is just growing more uncomfortable by the second. She’s not sure she likes being in the middle of this but she has to admit that the part of her that likes drama is wondering where this is going to go. 

“No,” he says in a childish way and then he drops his gaze to look at Rachel, “Rach what are you thinking? You can’t go to her house. She’s dangerous.”

“I’m right there,” Quinn says in a bored tone. 

Rachel frowns, “She’s not. I’ve been to her house before, it’s a really nice house.” 

Finn gives her a look, “This has nothing to do with her house! She could have the nicest house in the world for all I care I don’t want you going there!”

Quinn scoffs, “You don’t control her, she’s allowed to do what she wants. If she wants to come to my house, she’ll come to my house.” 

“Look, stay out of this, Fabray,” Finn says, pointing a finger at her and he turns to Rachel, “Come on, Rach. You’re not like… her,” he says slowly as if the thought of being like Quinn is disgusting. It’s hard to notice that once again they’re being compared and someone points out how different they are to one another. 

Are they really that different? Because when Rachel is with her, she feels as though they’re two sides of the same coin. It’s like Quinn is the very first person that pushes her to be… even more herself instead of someone different. All her life, Rachel’s been told by people her age that she talks too much and she takes up too much space but when Rachel finds herself rambling with Quinn, all the pink-haired girl does is shake her head and tell her she’s cute. 

“What does that mean?” Rachel asks, genuinely wondering. 

Finn looks taken aback by the question, “Well uh, you don’t… ditch school and come back with bruises all over your face like a street dog,” he stammers and Rachel hears Quinn scoff behind her, “And you don’t smoke or smell like weed. You’re a good person, you know. All that.”

Quinn snorts and Rachel presses her lips together from letting out a small laugh too. She doesn’t think Quinn is a bad person at all and it’s not because of the plans that they have next Friday that it’s going to make Rachel a bad person. She’s just experimenting. She doesn’t want to be the  _ good girl  _ that Finn sees. She wants to be  _ more _ than that.

“Oh that reminds me, Quinn. I have your jacket at home. I wasn’t sure if you’d come today so I didn’t bring it,” Rachel says, ignoring what Finn just said. 

“Why do you have--”

“Cool. You can bring it to me tomorrow,” Quinn says, “but I still think you’re selling yourself short when you said you didn’t suit the look as good as me,” she remarks with a wink that makes Rachel’s cheek redden. 

“Hey--”

“So you did read my texts,” Rachel notes and Quinn bites her lip.

“Maybe,” she teases and right as Rachel’s about to reply, the bell rings. 

Finn puts a hand on Rachel’s shoulder to get her attention and Rachel almost jumps, having completely forgotten he was there, “I’ll walk you to class?” he offers.

“Oh thank you, Finn but I have English,” she says sheepishly. 

“So?”

“She shares that class with me,” Quinn interjects, “You can leave, Hudson. I got this,” she says, repeating the obnoxious words he had told her earlier and he huffs before walking away without another word. Quinn watches him leave until he’s finally out of sight and she looks at the smaller girl with a smirk, “Wanna tell me why you just lied to your boyfriend, hotstuff?” 

“Technically, I do have English just... not now,” she says, closing her lockers, “and he’s not my boyfriend.”

“Don’t you want him to be?”

“We’ve been on a couple of dates.” 

“But do you want him to be your boyfriend?” 

Rachel stops walking to look at Quinn, “Do you care?” she says, wondering why Quinn is so insistent in this. It’s not like she wasn’t flirting with two cheerios five minutes ago. The pink-haired girl smirks.

“Of course, babe,” she says with a smug smile, “I have to know if I need to worry about him on my quest to get you.” Rachel scoffs and starts walking again and she can hear Quinn’s melodic laughter follow her, “you’re laughing but you’ll be mine someday.”

“Right. So you can add my name to your little notebook where you keep notes of the girls you sleep with?” Rachel says in a teasing voice even though she definitely means the words she just said. They reach Rachel’s class and Quinn gives her a confused look as they stop by the door. 

‘“What?”

Rachel shakes her head and brushes her hand against the bruise on her jaw, “Can we talk about this later?” she asks gently, referring to the injury. 

The rebel looks at the ground and fidgets from one feet to another before taking a deep breath, “okay,” she whispers and Rachel feels her heart flutter at the agreement. She definitely wasn’t expecting the pink-haired girl to agree to this but she’s glad she did. 

English period seems to take forever to get there. Rachel looks at the clock pretty much every two minutes just waiting until it finally rings and signals the time for her to go to her next class. Now that she’s close enough to Quinn, she hopes she’ll get to finally figure out why the girl mysteriously shows up with bruises. It must hurt and suck to deal with and she’s wondering why the troublemaker doesn’t do anything with them and what does her mother think of all that? The bruise on her jaw looks like someone definitely punched her there and she wonders who would ever get into a fight with a 16 year-old girl. Did Quinn start it? She wishes she could just sit down with Quinn in a safe place and make her tell her everything so she could help her. Even though she has no idea if she could even help her. What Quinn is going through seems to be more rough than something Rachel could handle, but she  _ wants  _ to so badly. She wants to be that person that Quinn can go to. It just seems like Quinn needs that person. 

Finally the bell rings and Rachel rushes to her English class as fast as possible. She watches the door, her foot lightly tapping on the ground as she waits for Quinn to come through the door frame. After what seems like forever, Quinn appears as she walks in talking to Mr. Green. Rachel watches the exchange with curious eyes and then finally, he pats her shoulder and she gives him a nod and she heads to her seat. 

“Hey cupcake,” Quinn says, winking. 

“What were you talking about with him?” Rachel asks out of pure curiosity. 

Quinn looks at him and then back to Rachel with a hint of a smile, “sometimes I really think you’re obsessed with me,” she teases and the diva rolls her eyes, “I was just asking him what I missed while I was gone.”

That’s oddly… responsible of her. Although, the more Rachel thinks about it, she never saw anything that proved that Quinn was “bad” at school. She was there for every exam, she helped Rachel lots with their assignment together and she just asked the teacher what do to since she missed a class. Rachel still has a lot to figure out about Quinn.

“So can we talk about what happened now?” Rachel asks, eyes darting to the bruise on her jaw.

Quinn instantly grows uncomfortable and sighs, “Do we have to?”

“Yes,” Rachel says with determination and the hint of a smile appears on Quinn’s face only for it to disappear in two seconds. 

“Okay, I’ll tell you but.. you have to promise not to tell anyone,” Quinn says seriously as she leans in and Rachel feels the importance of the moment so she nods and waits for Quinn to continue. “So I was walking down the street, right? And out of nowhere this… this… monster appears,” she says dramatically with a scared expression on her face, “he was huge and he had a cape on and I think he was flying too? He just started flying towards me and he punched me! How crazy is that? I kept asking him why he was hitting me but he just said he had to exterminate the human race so he can lead the Earth with his diabolical plans. It was terrifying.” she says, not once breaking out of her character and Rachel looks at her with a bored expression. 

“You’re such an idiot,” Rachel deadpans, annoyed that the rebel thinks this is a laughing matter. 

Quinn snorts, “Why? It’s true.”

“Oh yeah and you expect me to believe someone like… Spider-Man beat you up?”

“Do you think Spider-Man wears a cape and flies, cupcake?” 

Rachel shrugs with a heavy sigh, “I don’t know, do I? I don’t care about that stuff.”

“Clearly,” Quinn laughs. 

Rachel glares at her for a moment but when Quinn doesn’t drop eye contact and licks her lips as her mouth forms a smirk, she lets her shoulder slump, “Why won’t you tell me?” 

The final bell rings at that moment, indicating it’s time for class to start. Mr Green clears his throat and tells everyone to quiet down so he can start his lesson. Rachel feels the disappointment settle at the pit of her stomach as she realizes the pink-haired girl distracted her enough so the bell would ring and she wouldn’t be able to have time to actually tell Rachel. 

She looks at the girl on her right’s side profile and she can almost feel the pain that she must have felt when she received the bruise. It does look like it really hurts and Rachel isn’t comfortable knowing that things like this happen to Quinn all the time and how one ever bothers to check up on her. The contusion is an ugly blue that makes the girl’s already fair skin look even more pale and the singer just wants to reach out and kiss it better which doesn’t help the overall way she’s feeling. She’s just confused about this whole thing. She knows herself, she can feel herself growing more interested in Quinn everyday and she hates herself for it. The troublemaker is not somehow who’s supposed to interest Rachel. The brunette is supposed to like Finn, the nice, good-looking boy next door who will look perfect next to her on red carpets. Not a pink-haired rebel that cuts class to smoke weed and flirts with anything that moves. She needs to cut it out before she realizes that she has an actual crush on a girl that will probably grow tired of Rachel in a few weeks. 

Quinn turns to look at her and gives her a genuine smile that has Rachel’s heart fluttering so she presses her lips together and turns back to the lesson. She can hear the rebel chuckling on her right, and out of the corner of her eye, she watches as Quinn rips a piece of paper and starts writing on it. Seconds later, she receives a paper ball on her desk that reads: 

_ I’ll drive you home today _

Rachel turns to her and shakes her head, “I have glee,” she mouths to the girl and Quinn shrugs, as if she’s saying that she’ll wait. Rachel narrows her eyes at her and Quinn just points to the paper and nods so the diva sighs and lets it go. There’s not any point fighting with Quinn over this. 

The rebel walks her to her locker after class, keeping her gaze on Rachel the entire time, even when she collides with someone by mistake and the cheerio calls out “freak”. The diva looks back at the cheerleader who walks away with her head held high but Quinn’s eyes don’t leave the diva as she talks to her about Mr Green’s assignment. 

When a dark-haired girl calls out her name near the entrance, Quinn looks back at her and shouts “coming!” before turning back to Rachel, “so I’ll meet you in the parking lot?”

“Quinn, you don’t have to drive me home. I already have a ride home.”

“Just let me do this,” Quinn pleads, “it’s my apology for not answering your texts.”

Rachel sighs, looking at the floor, thinking that Quinn should also apology for the crazy story she pulled earlier but she doesn’t have the energy to get into it again, “Fine. You can drive me home. I’ll give you back your jacket.” 

Quinn’s face breaks into a grin, a beautiful, breathtaking smile that shows two rows of straight white teeth and Rachel immediately knows she made the right decision, “see? It’s perfect. See you later, hotstuff.” Quinn says as she walks away. The diva looks at her retreating form until the door that leads to the field closes behind her. 

  
  


“Hey Rach,” she hears as someone sits down next to her and she looks up from her phone where she was texting her dad that she didn’t need a ride home. 

“Hi Finn,” she says politely as Kurt sits down on her right after Santana pushed him out of his chair in the row behind the diva so she can sit there with Brittany. 

“I wanted to make sure things were fine with us after.. you know, this morning,” he says with a painful expression, like it  _ hurts  _ for him to think about Quinn. 

“What happened this morning?” Kurt noisily joins the conversation.

“I was talking to Rachel about something and we got interrupted,” he scoffs and Rachel mentally rolls her eyes. It really wasn’t that big of deal and it’s not her fault she had already made plans with Quinn. 

To get high. 

But no one needed to know that.

“By who?” Mercedes asks from next to Brittany.

“Quinn,” Finn mutters and Kurt and Mercedes both turn to look at Rachel with wide eyes. Rachel just looks at the doorway, crossing her fingers that Mr. Schue will walk in soon. 

“Wait. Fabgay?” Santana says and everyone turns to look at her. The latina scoffs, “she talks to  _ you _ ?” she says to Rachel as if the very idea of someone talking to Rachel is crazy. 

“Yeah,” Finn answers for Rachel once more, “apparently they have plans Friday,” he continues to whine childishly.

“What?” Kurt says almost way too loud, “Since when are you and Quinn friends? All you did was complain about her when you guys were paired up.”

Rachel shrugs, “I’ve gotten to know her,” she says nonchalantly. 

“No way Q would talk to you.” Santana cuts in and Rachel turns her back so she can look at the cheerios and glare at her. 

“Since when do  _ you _ talk to Quinn Fabray?” Mercedes asks Santana.

The latina shrugs, “she’s cool.”

“And she’s totally the best kisser in school apart from San and I,” Brittany says with excitement and Santana grows red as no one speaks, not sure what to say about that. Rachel feels her stomach drop at the confirmation that Quinn has kissed Brittany and probably Santana as well. Maybe they’ve done more stuff than just kissing too. 

“Okay…” Kurt says slowly, breaking the awkward silence, “What are you going to do at Quinn Fabray’s house?” 

Oh nothing, just get high. For the first time ever. No big deal.

She shrugs, taking advantage of her talent as an actress to lie, “I don’t know. Just hang out I guess.” 

She hears Santana snickers, “Q’s getting desperate if she’s talking to the midget now. We need to get her a real girl.” 

Rachel clenches her jaw and turns to face Santana, “you should know that she’s the one that invited me multiple times to hang out with me since she _ likes _ hanging out with me.”

“Wait you’ve hung out multiple times?”

“Yes Finn. Quinn and I are… friends..” she says awkwardly. They are friends, it just doesn’t feel the same as her friendship with say Mercedes. She’s pretty sure friends don’t flirt as much as Quinn does.

Brittany grins, “Oh yeah, being friends with Quinn is the best. She does that thing with her tongue--”

“Britt!” Santana interrupts her, “Let’s not talk about this, okay?” she says sweetly, linking their pinkies together and the blonde furrows her brows but nods. Rachel still feels uncomfortable jealousy in her stomach at the mention of Quinn kissing other girls. Which is stupid and dumb, because she can’t let herself be infatuated enough to kiss the rebel. It’ll just end badly. 

Finn turns to her, suddenly mad, “So you’ve kissed her?” 

Rachel chokes on her saliva, “What? No! Quinn and I have not kissed.” But she does think about what it would feel like to kiss her a little bit too much. 

“But I heard her call you pet names and-- and she was flirting with you while you were talking about giving her her jacket back.”

“Rachel why was I not aware of all of this?” Kurt says, sounding offended and Rachel sighs.

“Because it’s not a big deal! Can we just let it go now?” Where the hell is Mr. Schue anyways?

“I don’t want you going to her house, Rach!” Finn continues and she rubs her face with her hands.

“Look, Quinn and I’s friendship has nothing to do with any of you.” she says, eyeing Kurt and she turns back to Finn, “Quinn is nice to me and I like hanging out with her so I’m gonna hang out with her even if you don’t want me too because you’re not the boss of me. It’s not because we’ve been on three dates that you get to decide for me now.” 

It’s silent for a moment as Finn slumps in his chair like a child and Santana snorts, “Damn, I actually have some respect for Berry right now.” 

It’s at that moment that Mr. Schue walks in and the singer is pretty sure she’s never been more thankful to see him before. 

  
  
  


An hour later, she’s knocking on Quinn’s car window to signal that she’s there. The pink-haired girl opens an eye and when she sees it’s Rachel, she smiles and reaches to unlock the door and open it for her from inside. 

“Hey.” 

“Hey back,” Quinn says lowering the volume of  _ The Less I Know The Better, _ the song playing from her phone, “How was Glee?”

Rachel rolls her eyes, remembering the conversation they had at the beginning of the class, “It was okay. Rough start but after it went well,” she says.

“What happened?” Quinn says putting the car on drive. 

“Everyone thinks it’s weird that we’re friends.”

“Ouch. Friendzone.” Quinn says, putting a hand on her heart which makes Rachel crack a smile. 

“Idiot.” Rachel says, nudging Quinn’s shoulder and then she presses her lips together, “why do you talk to me?” she says self-consciously.

Quinn glances at her, “What did they tell you to make you ask something like that?”

The diva shrugs and looks out the window, “I don’t know. Santana said you must be desperate since you hang out with me and nobody seemed to believe you’d wanna talk to me.” She omits the part about Brittany saying she’s a good kisser. She’s not in the mood to talk about that even more. 

The rebel glances at her again and sighs when she has to look back at the road, like she wishes she could look at Rachel for real to tell her this, “Hey don’t listen to them. I like hanging out with you.” 

Rachel can’t stop herself, “Why?” and she realizes how childish she sounds right now so she backtracks, “Nevermind. This is stupid.”

Quinn doesn’t say anything and Rachel can’t help but feel the disappointment in her stomach as  _ Let It Happen _ starts playing. 

“I like hanging out with you because when I’m with you, I don’t feel judged.” Quinn mutters, eyes straight on the road. “Everyone seems to have an opinion about me and you… don’t make me feel like I’m less of a being just because I dyed my hair and I don’t act like everybody else.”

This sudden moment of vulnerability completely surprises Rachel and she feels her heart break at how quiet Quinn sounds. The troublemaker acts like she doesn’t care that people talk behind her back constantly but like any other human beings, at one point it starts to hurt. 

Rachel looks at Quinn’s side profile, where she can see the cut in her eyebrows and her hands tightly wrapped around the steering wheel and she can see how much it took for Quinn to admit something like that. 

“I like hanging out with you too.” Rachel murmurs after a while and Quinn releases a nervous chuckle.

“You’re just saying that cause I’m getting high with you,” she jokes and just like that, the vulnerability in Quinn is gone, replaced by a flirty persona.

When they get to Rachel’s house, the diva runs in and out of the house to give her back to leather jacket and Quinn thanks her with a flirty smile that Rachel can’t believe she gets affected by. It’s only when she repeats the events of today in her mind that she realizes she still has no idea how Quinn got her injuries. She’ll find out soon enough, she’ll make it her mission. 


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yo! thank you guys for tuning in for another chapter of this fic, I've been really thankful for all the positive feedback I've been getting you guys don't even know how much I love reading your comments, they make my day. Here's Rachel finally getting high! I tried to base it on my one and only experience so if it's not the best, I'm sorry. I tried? Don't make fun of me lmao. Anyways, enjoy!
> 
> disclaimer: I don't own Glee or any of the characters in the story

“So my friend invited me for a sleepover tonight.” Rachel says, playing with the food on her plate. She’s been trying to figure out if she should tell her dads who the friend is or if she should lie to them and say that’s Kurt. She doesn’t want to lie to them anymore then she needs to, though. She’s pretty nervous about tonight. She trusts Quinn and all but she also doesn’t know how she’ll react to something like that. She’s also still kind of worried about the smoke. She knows she should eat more because she’s aware that you’re usually really hungry when you’re high but Rachel is still to nervous to eat. 

“Really?” her dad Leroy says with a surprised look. It’s almost sad that he’s surprised by it and she should be offended, but it’s not like that happens to her a lot so she gets it. “Who?”

Well here’s to hoping. “Quinn.”

Hiram looks up from his plate, “Quinn Fabray?” She nods and he puts his fork down, “I thought you told me she was a troublemaker.”

She winces, “Well, she is a bit but… I’ve gotten closer to her. She’s actually pretty fun.”

Leroy chimes in, “A troublemaker, huh? I hope she won’t be a bad influence.”

He’s clearly joking so Rachel forces a chuckle. Yikes. 

“Are you sure about this?” Hiram asks and she nods. 

“Yeah. She doesn’t have anyone else honestly. People make fun of her at school and.. you know. I want to be here for her.” she says with a small frown. 

“Well that’s very honorable.” Leroy says. 

“Are you sure she’s a nice girl? I’m just asking because I knew her father and he was probably one of the most homophobic man I’ve ever met,” Hiram says, rolling his eyes.

Rachel actually laughs at that, “well considering Quinn is very very gay, I think things should be okay.” 

They both look surprised by that information but then Hiram nods, “Okay then.”

They actually seem pretty happy about Rachel having more friends so they drive over to her house with no one problem after dinner. She has her overnight bag on her lap which she holds tightly to ease her nerves. Not only is she going to get  _ high _ , she’s also going to stay the night. With Quinn Fabray. Has Rachel gone completely insane? Finn would probably thinks so. 

“Have fun, sweetie.”

“Thanks, daddy.” she says kissing her dad’s cheek before getting out of the car. Before she can reach the porch, the door flings open and the pink-haired girl smiles at her as she leans against the door frame. 

“Hey good-looking,” she says after waving at Hiram in a friendly way. Rachel sees her dad wave back before driving away and she can’t help but wonder what her dads would think if they heard just how much Quinn flirts with her. “You look as pretty as a picture, darling.”

Rachel rolls her eyes as she walks past Quinn to enter her home. She’s wearing the same thing she was wearing at school, so a simple black skirt with a white long sleeve with polka dots. Surprisingly, Quinn has ditched the ripped jeans and the leather jacket she wore at school to replace them with adidas pants and a black hoodie that makes the pink in her hair even more colorful. Rachel isn’t sure how Quinn manages to make this simple outfit seem so… attractive. God she needs to get her shit together. If Quinn learns she’s thinking like this, she’d never hear the end of it. 

“Is your mother already gone?” Rachel says, looking around the house. She still hasn’t met the woman and she’s really really curious. 

Quinn closes the door, “Yep. She should come back when we’re sleeping,” she pauses and whispers, “well that’s if we even sleep at all.” 

“You’re an idiot.” Rachel says, glaring at Quinn. 

Quinn laughs, “So I’ve heard. Come on, cupcake. Let’s go to my room.”

The diva suddenly feels the anxiety come back up again and she forces herself to take a few deep breaths that she hopes Quinn cannot hear. 

The pink-haired girl lets her enter the room first and Rachel drops her bag on the desk and she eyes the bed. She suddenly wonders what will be the sleeping situation and the thought of sharing a bed with Quinn only makes her more nervous. 

The rebel can probably tell what she’s thinking about because she snorts, “Don’t worry, cupcake. You’ll have my bed. I have a guest room.”

“Oh, I didn’t--” Rachel starts, suddenly feeling impolite and Quinn shakes her head. 

“Don’t worry about it, cutie.” she says, settling on the bed and Rachel follows her. It feels weird to just hang out with Quinn like this at her house and she’s a little nervous about it but she can tell Quinn is trying to keep things low key. “You nervous?”

“Extremely,” Rachel admits without thinking and she grows red with embarrassment. The pink-haired girl smiles kindly.

“We don’t have to do it. But I promise I’ll be gentle.” 

She’s pretty sure Quinn didn’t mean for it to sound so sexual for once but she still grows even redder.

“No. I want to.” Rachel says with determination. 

Quinn smiles and reaches over to grab a napkin. When she unfolds it, Rachel sees two brownies, “So you said the smoke would damage your vocal chords or whatever so I thought it’d be better if we consume it. Besides it’s actually harder getting high by smoking if it’s your first time. I made them myself so they’re completely vegan by the way.” 

Rachel’s jaw slightly drops as she stares at the snacks in front of her. Quinn had actually listened to her when she said the smoke would be bad for her voice and she remembered that she was vegan even though the only time it came up was over a month ago. She’s been on three dates with Finn and he still cannot for the life of him remember that she doesn’t eat meat yet Quinn remembers it. She feels her heart flutter in a way that it definitely shouldn’t but she can’t help it. Quinn is just… so much more considerate than she could’ve ever imagined. The more she’s starting to know the girl, the more she’s starting to realize that Quinn is not as much of a badass as she projects she is and it’s actually kind of adorable 

The image of Quinn wearing an apron and baking Rachel brownies is also stupidly cute and Rachel bites her lip thinking of it. 

“Oh. Thank you, Quinn. That’s very nice of you,” the diva says, reaching over to grab Quinn’s forearm and she’s pretty sure she doesn’t imagine the blush on the pink-haired girl’s cheeks at that moment. 

“No problem,” the rebel mumbles shyly and she takes one of the brownie while Rachel grabs one too. 

She feels her heart beat faster as she holds it up in the air, “well… cheers,” she says colliding her brownie with Quinn’s and the girl laughs.

“Cheers.”

Quinn looks at her and bites into her brownie as Rachel does the same and she feels a bit overwhelmed by the eye contact but she doesn’t drop it. She likes Quinn’s eyes anyways. Especially when they’re not bloodshot because of an injury. 

They put on Brooklyn Nine-Nine as they wait for it to hit and it’s very convenient that Quinn has a TV in her bedroom, because they can just lay in bed as they watch it. There’s a space between them that Quinn herself put between them after she joked about Rachel laying on top of her. Rachel doesn’t want to admit that the best thing about this is Quinn’s sweet laugh that comes out every once in a while. She needs to get her shit together.

They’re on the third episode when a particularly funny joke makes Rachel burst out in laughter and she can’t seem to be able to stop. Quinn grins widely as she watches the diva hold her stomach and she barks out a laugh. 

“You okay hotstuff?” Quinn teases and it just makes Rachel laugh even harder. Finally, she sits up to make the room stop spinning and that’s when she notices that everything is a little bit hazy and it’s like everything is moving in a way that’s delayed in her mind.

“Whoa,” she says and it’s like she hears someone else say it which just makes her eyes widen comically. Quinn bursts out in laughter and sits up next to Rachel.

“Did it hit?” 

“Who got hit?” Rachel asks and Quinn releases another chuckle that makes Rachel’s stomach flip.

“I think you’re officially high, babe.” 

The dark-haired girl blinks a few times, fascinated by the way it feels like everything is in slow-motion. Quinn presses play so the show can continue playing and they watch the rest of the episode, Rachel laughing hysterically at every joke. When the credits roll, Rachel turns to Quinn. 

“Are you?” Rachel asks vaguely and it takes the rebel a while to understand what she means but then she nods. 

“A little. I’m used to it, though so it’ll hit you way harder than me.” 

“Not fair,” she pouts and the pink-haired girl smiles. 

“Sorry cupcake.”

“Why do you call me that?” Rachel says, not having the filter to stop it. 

Quinn shrugs and Rachel chuckles at the way her shoulders move in that slow pace, “I don’t know.”

“Why do you flirt with me?” she presses on. Quinn grins.

“Cause you’re pretty,” she says as though that answers everything. Rachel blushes and lets her back fall on the mattress. She feels as though she can feel the blood running in her veins and it’s a crazy feeling but she lets it happen.

“I’m not.”

Quinn lays down on her stomach next to her, “Yes, you are. You’re like-- crazy beautiful. It makes my heart go ‘woah’ everytime.” Judging on the shy look on Quinn’s face, Rachel guesses she didn’t mean to admit that so easily .

“But you sleep with like… so many girls,” the diva pouts. It’s hard to believe the troublemaker could find her that beautiful when she has the opportunity to sleep with as many girls as she wants. 

“What? No I don’t.” Quinn says with a frown. Rachel blinks and she feels her eyelids get heavy but she forces herself to open them again. 

“Yes, you do. Everyone says so at school. Kurt said you slept with more girls than the football team combined. Oh and Mrs Forman too.”

Quinn looks at her with her eyebrows furrowed and she picks herself up to rest on her elbows, “What are you talking about?”

Rachel shifts so she can lay on her side and rests on her hand, “I’m just repeating what I heard,” she says suddenly feeling like an idiot and her heart starts beating faster as she grows more nervous about what she said. Quinn must see it in her eyes because she reaches to comfort Rachel. 

“Hey, it’s okay. I’m not mad. I’m just confused.” 

“Why? Is is not true?” 

Quinn scoffs, “No it’s not. especially not about Mrs Forman. Sure I was close to her but it’s because I was the best student in her class.” What? First of all, Quinn being the best student in Chemistry class is hard enough to believe since she ditches school so often but also, the part where she supposedly doesn’t sleep with girls all the time is just as surprising. “Rachel I haven’t slept with anyone. Ever. I’m waiting for the right person and all that.” 

Rachel lets herself the time to process the words and it’s way slower than it would be if she was sober but suddenly she catches on, “You’re a virgin?” she shouts in surprise. Quinn winces and rolls her eyes. 

“Say it again, I don’t think my neighbor heard you correctly.” 

The diva blushes and ducks her head, “sorry, I’m just-- holy shit, this would be hard enough to wrap my head around if I wasn’t high so I’m having a lot of difficulty right now.” she admits and Quinn chuckles. 

“I’m gonna grab some chips,” the troublemaker says, leaving the room and Rachel stares at the spinning ceiling. She can hear her heartbeat as though it’s in her ears and she brings her hand in front of her eyes and inspects it like it’s the most interesting in the world. She looks at the lines on her palm and she can hear Brooklyn Nine-Nine faintly playing in the background but she can barely hear it over the sound of her heartbeat. Quinn’s bed is comfortable. Like the most comfortable bed she’s ever been one, it’s as though she’s in a bed made out of clouds and she loves it. After a while, it could be 2 minutes or 20 Rachel has no idea, the bed dips as Quinn lays on it. 

Rachel knows she wants to reach her hand to grab a chip but she’s way too comfortable right now to do anything about it. It’s as though her arms don’t really want to listen to what her brain is telling her. At that moment, Quinn grabs one and feeds it to Rachel. It takes her a moment to understand what the hand above her mouth is doing but once she gets it, she lifts her head up a bit to grab it, careful to not let her lips touch Quinn’s fingers. Her heartbeat gets even faster (she didn’t even know that was possible) and she looks at the girl next to her. 

“So you’ve never slept with anyone?” she asks as though they’re best friends and they’re allowed to talk about that stuff. Quinn shakes her head and Rachel stammers, “But… those girls at the bar… and Brittany told me you do that thing with your tongue--” she cuts herself off with embarrassment as her cheeks go pink.

Quinn chuckles, “I kiss a lot of people but I’ve never slept with anyone,” she explains simply. 

“So why do the whole football team hate you for that?”

Quinn munches on some chips as though she didn’t even hear Rachel and she bops her head to a rhythm that’s not even there so Rachel forces herself to fling her arm so it hits Quinn’s arm.

“Ouch? What is it?”

“Why does the football team hate you then?”

Quinn sighs, “Why the fuck are we having this conversation when we’re high? Can’t you just enjoy it?”

Rachel chuckles and moves her arm so it’s on the pink-haired girl’s waist. She hears Quinn’s breath hitch but she doesn’t move her hand; she just waits for the answer. Finally, the rebel talks again. 

“Because the cheerios like to make the guys jealous or whatever. They ask me to make out so the guys either find it hot or they get possessive and more romantic or something. I’m not sure. Straight people are fucking weird.” 

Rachel looks at her for a long time, her hazy mind trying to grasp everything. She feels tingles in the hand that’s touching Quinn’s waist and she’s not sure it’s only because she’s high.

“But why do you do it if it makes the football team hate you?”

Quinn laughs at that, “because I don't give a fuck? Also, I get to make out with pretty girls so.”

The diva frowns, letting her hand fall onto the bed. 

“Oh.”

Stupid jealousy. 

“What would you say if I asked you to kiss me right now?” Rachel says without thinking.

“I would say that you’re too high to think clearly right now and you’ll regret it tomorrow.” Quinn responds easily, a hint of sadness in her voice. 

The singer bites the inside of her cheek and sighs, “Okay.” 

The troublemaker looks at her for a moment, trying to figure out what she’s thinking probably but she gives up after a while because she’s not sober enough to deal with this. She lets her head fall on the mattress and Rachel stares at the spinning ceiling some more. 

“You wanna try to bake something?” Quinn calls out after a while and Rachel smiles in excitement. 

They end up making a mess in the kitchen that ends with them on the floor, holding their stomach as they laugh their hearts out. Rachel is pretty sure she’s never laughed harder than in that moment, in Quinn Fabray’s kitchen floor as flour surrounds them. Quinn convinces them to clean up the most possible as they can but Rachel is getting more tired by the second and before they’re done cleaning up, she takes Quinn’s hand and brings them upstairs. 

She tries not to focus on the fact that Quinn’s hand is soft and fits amazingly well in hers


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Back with another chapter of this fic and I hope you guys enjoy it ! There's a few moments in this fic that I just absolutely love and I hope you guys appreciate them too! As always I have no idea what to say in these things so I'll just tell y'all to check out my other fics if you want to because I've been writing a lot these past few days!
> 
> As always, I don't own Glee or any of these characters

The first thing she notices when she wakes up the next morning is that her mouth is dry. She opens her eyes and shuts them quickly when the sun hits her eyes directly since the curtains haven’t been shut. Her head hurts a little and she tries to move to a different position but there’s a weight on her back that keeps her from moving. She freezes when she hears the sound of someone else breathing and then she remembers where she is. She’s in Quinn’s room so the body half on top of her should be… Quinn. Quinn is currently on her back… cuddling her? She’s not sure how she’s supposed to feel about that and she’s not sure if the blush on her cheek is from the fact that this is happening or she’s just really hot with another person on top of her. 

She feels her stomach flip and she takes all the strength in her to move position, causing the pink-haired girl to fall on the bed and she groans as she stirs. Rachel watches as Quinn moves so her back faces the diva and she’s surprised when she notices that they both didn’t even bother to change before going to bed last night. She’s still in her skirt but the only thing that’s different is that she’s wearing Quinn’s hoodie from last night. The rebel is wearing a tank top that gives Rachel the view of a scar that’s on the back of Quinn’s shoulder. 

Uncomfortable in the skirt, she gets up from the bed with a groan. She feels her head spin a little but she manages to get to the bathroom to change into a pair of sweatpants that she had planned to use for sleeping. She looks at herself in the mirror to make sure she doesn’t look to much like a mess. Her hair is messed up a little but it’s still acceptable. Her eyes linger on the Yale hoodie that’s Quinn’s. It’s a bit too big on her but she actually quite likes it so she decides to not take it off, ignoring the implication of that. 

She doesn’t remember everything from last night. She remembers a lot of laughing and then the brief mention of Quinn being a… virgin. Surprisingly. Rachel is still shocked by that information. 

She hears sounds coming from the kitchen downstairs and hit by shyness, she rushes to Quinn’s bedroom. The rebel seems to be sleeping again but she can’t tell since she’s facing away from her. Not sure what to do, she slips back into the covers and looks at Quinn’s back. She looks at the light white scar that’s on her shoulder and frowns. Without thinking, she lifts up her hand and traces it with her finger. She can visibly see the chills on Quinn’s bare arm when she does so and then the rebel’s voice surprises her. 

“It doesn’t have a tragic backstory don’t worry.” 

Rachel backs away and Quinn moves so they’re facing each other now. They’re in Quinn’s bed, under the covers, after they spend the whole night there. Cuddling too, Rachel guesses, by the way she woke up. The diva swallows hard. 

“What?” she says not sure to understand what the girl means.

“The scar. I just fell in the playground while I was younger and a piece of a glass dug into my skin.” Quinn explains, voice a little bit hoarse with sleep. It’s a little bit too… sexy for Rachel’s taste. 

“Oh.”

“Sorry to disappoint,” the rebel teases. Rachel chews on her bottom lip, staring at the bruise on Quinn’s jaw that’s finally starting to fade. 

“What’s the tragic story for this one?” she boldly asks, nodding at the injury. 

Quinn chuckles and shifts so she can lay on her back, “Christ, let a girl wake up first, cupcake.” 

Rachel curses herself for being too eager and noisy all the time and moves so that’s she’s on her back too. 

“How’s your head feeling, hot stuff?”

“Hurts a little.” Rachel admits. 

The troublemaker snorts, “Yeah, I don’t doubt it. When you eat you’ll feel better. Did you have fun, though?” 

Rachel smiles, “Actually, yes. Thank you for the experience, Quinn. I had a lot of fun with you.”

“Why, thank  _ you _ sweetheart.” Quinn says and they turn to look at each other, grinning. Rachel feels the butterflies in her stomach and she finds that she’s  _ happy _ right now. She doesn’t remember the last time she felt so carefree with someone. “When you’re famous and telling interviewers about this rebellious experience, be sure not to forget me.”

“I’m not sure I could forget you if I tried,” the singer answers truthfully. Quinn’s smile falters a little and she presses her lips together. 

“Think you might be the first one to ever say something like that, cupcake.” Quinn tries to say in a teasing tone but Rachel sees right through her facade. She thinks of the girl’s dad who just skipped town to be with another family after Quinn found him cheating. She wonders just how deeply she is affected by it but pretends she isn’t. 

“I mean it.”

“I know.” 

They stare at each other, Rachel’s hands shoved in the pocket of Quinn’s oversized hoodie and the moment feels heavy with emotions and confessions and the diva wouldn’t have it any other way. 

“Well I am a truth teller,” Rachel teases, “unlike someone.”

Quinn raises an eyebrow, “What’s that supposed to mean?

“Well you said you would sleep in the guest bedroom, Fabray.” Rachel jokes and Quinn gasps dramatically. 

“Are you kidding? That’s what I planned to do when you suddenly grabbed me, pulling me down with you and begged me to cuddle you until I finally caved in and accepted.” 

A blush immediately creeps on Rachel’s face and she hides her face in her hands in mortification. She had no recollection of even doing that and she can’t believe high her thought it was a good idea to do that. She knew she was a cuddly person but she never thought she’d have the guts to ask her something like that. She shakes her head, trying to get over it and she hears Quinn chuckle and then her hands are taken away from her face and the rebel is suddenly very very close to her face. 

“Don’t worry about it, cutie. It was cute.”

It just makes Rachel grows redder and she puts some distance between them, “I’m really sorry. I shouldn't have forced you to do that.” 

Quinn laughs some more and shrugs, “I didn’t mind. It was actually… you know.. nice or whatever.” She mumbled the last part but Rachel definitely heard it. She grins widely. 

“Oh my god, does big badass Quinn actually enjoy cuddles?” she teases.

The rebel rolls her eyes, “Shut up.”

“Nuh huh,” Rachel laughs, “wait till everyone at school hears that scary Quinn Fabray likes to cuddle.” 

“Wait till everyone at school hears that good girl Rachel Berry got high with scary Quinn Fabray last night,” Quinn retorts back and Rachel barks out a laugh that makes the rebel smile. 

“I did get high last night, didn’t I?” Rachel says with excitement. Quinn rests on her eyebrow and looks at her.

“Hell yeah you did. You might steal my badass reputation next.”

Rachel smiles, “Well I do seem to end up with an awful lot of your clothes. Maybe I need to dye my hair too? What about blue strands?” 

“I think you’d look hot.” Quinn says sincerely and Rachel is taken back by the compliment and she blushes a little, looking away from the piercing hazel eyes, “And as always, you manage to make my clothes look better on you than me,” she adds as if she wanted to make Rachel blush even more

“I like the hoodie,” Rachel stammers out and Quinn grins. 

“Thanks. It’s my dream school,” she says before getting up, giving Rachel the full view of the skin that the tank top doesn’t hide. She’s such a pervert. Wait-- Yale is her dream school?   
  


“Wha--”

“Let’s go eat. I’m starving.” Quinn says, already out the door. 

Rachel can’t help but roll her eyes at the way Quinn always manages to be mysterious. It’s infuriating but Rachel is also kind of obsessed with it. 

The pink-haired girl is waiting for her at the top of the stairs and Rachel can’t help but reach out to hold Quinn’s arm.

“I can’t wait to meet your mom,” she teases and Quinn rolls her eyes with a smile. 

When they get to the kitchen, a small blonde woman is putting a plate in the dishwasher. She looks a lot like Quinn except for the fact that her hair is a golden shade of blonde and not pink. 

“Mom,” Quinn calls out and the older woman looks at them. 

“Good morning, Quinnie. Rachel, right?” the woman says with a warm smile, taking a step towards them. Rachel can’t help the laugh that leaves her mouth when she hears  _ Quinnie. _ It just sounds… adorable. The idea of someone calling the badass who’s currently sporting a nasty contusion something as cute as Quinnie is laughable but Rachel kinda loves the idea. Quinn looks at her with a glare but Rachel sees right through it and just smiles because she’s so going to tease her about this later. 

“Rachel Berry. It’s very nice to meet you, Mrs Fabray,” she says, pulling her hand out. 

Quinn’s mom shakes her hand, “Likewise. I’ve heard a lot about you. Quinn told me all about--” 

“Mom!” Quinn says, cutting her off and Rachel grins at the rebel. Quinn talked to her mom about her. This just keeps getting better and better. 

Mrs Fabray chuckles, “Alright sorry,” she says to her daughter, “sorry we didn’t have the chance to meet earlier, I’m just so busy with work all the time.”

“Don’t worry about it’” Rachel says with a smile.

“How was your night? I saw you guys had a lot of fun in my kitchen, it seems like,” she says looking at Quinn but Rachel can see she’s just teasing her. Flashes of her throwing flour at Quinn and laughing hysterically pop up in her mind and she can’t help but feel her heart flutter at that. She really had a good time last night. 

Quinn rubs the back of her neck, “Yeah, sorry about that. We meant to clean up but,” she glances at Rachel with a smile on the corner of her mouth, “we got a bit too tired for it.” 

“It’s fine, just don’t do it again. I get tired at the end of my shifts and I don’t feel like cleaning flour up,” she says and Rachel instantly feels bad because she knows it was her that convinced Quinn to leave it there. 

“It’s my fault, Mrs Fabray. I’m terribly sorry I’m the one that told Quinn to just leave it there. I was a little… out of it last night.” 

Quinn snorts and her mom looks back and forth between them, “Well apology accepted,” she closes the dishwasher, “I’ll let you girls eat in peace. Quinnie I bought you cream for those bruises, it’s in the bathroom downstairs.” 

The question that she’s been asking Quinn since she got that contusion on her jaw is on the tip of her tongue but she refuses to let it out because she’s already asked it way too many times and she doesn’t want to make the girl reach her limit and actually snap at Rachel. The first and only time Quinn had done that hadn’t been pretty and she doesn’t want to repeat the experience. 

“I’m really sorry about not cleaning the mess,” Rachel says, feeling bad.

The rebel shakes her head, “It’s fine, cupcake. You were… out of it,” she says with a wink that makes Rachel blush. “You remember everything?” 

Quinn puts bread in the toasters and sits on the counter. Rachel walks towards her and leans on it, almost awkwardly.

“I think so, yeah.” A memory flashes and she smirks, “I remember something about you being a sap and saying you’re actually a virgin.”

Quinn blushes and rolls her eyes, “You’re such an idiot.”

“Hey that’s my line.”   
  


“Well, I’m stealing it. I don’t understand what the big deal is with me waiting for the right person,” she says almost shyly.

Rachel puts a hand on her knee and she notices Quinn staring at the hand intensely, “It’s not a big deal. It’s just adorable.” The pink-haired girl rolls her eyes again and the diva grins, “It is! Come to think of it, everytime I learn something about you, it’s just cute.”

“I’m not cute. I’m a badass. Look at this bruise,” she says pointing it and this time Rachel is the one rolling her eyes. 

“Your mom calls you Quinnie.”

“You weren’t supposed to know that.”

“You’ve recited poetry to me once.”

“You deserved it.” Quinn says so firmly that it makes Rachel stop in her track. Her hand on Quinn’s knee feels tingly. 

“W-what?” she says, unsure of what the girl means. 

“You, Rachel Barbra Berry, are the kind of girl that deserves poetry quoted to her every damn day for absolutely no reason.” Piercing hazel eyes are staring at brown eyes and Rachel can’t seem to be able to drop the eye contact even though it’s making her stomach flips in all sorts of ways. 

Quinn is the one that breaks the eye contact but only because her eyes drop to Rachel’s mouth. She licks her lips unconsciously and she can’t help but stare at the girl’s mouth too. She vaguely remembers asking Quinn to kiss her last night and her refusing, saying that she’d regret it because she’s high. Well she’s not high right now so would she regret it? She thinks of all the girls Quinn has supposedly kissed and she feels the pang of jealousy once more. She wants to be the only girl that Quinn wants to kiss but she’s not sure Quinn is even capable of that. What if she’s like this with the diva because she’ll be able to brag about it afterwards? To whom she’s not sure, considering Rachel is at the bottom of the ladder at school but Rachel doesn’t have time to think about how much her logic is flawed right now. 

Because Quinn is suddenly leaning down but she’s doing it slowly as if she’s giving Rachel the chance to step away before their lips touch. The diva isn’t sure who she surprises more when she keeps her gaze on the lips moving towards hers, waiting for the moment they’ll touch. The toasts suddenly burst out of the toaster and surprise them both. Quinn backs away so quickly she hits her head on the back of a cabinet and hisses in pain. 

“Fuck,” she mumbles, rubbing the back of her head. 

Rachel swallows hard and thinks about what would’ve happened if nothing had interrupted them. Would she really have let herself kiss Quinn Fabray? It’d be almost stupid not to kiss Quinn. After she just said that romantic thing about poetry. Huh. Romantic. Rachel would’ve never guessed that Quinn would be the romantic type but after all, she keeps getting proved wrong every time she learns something about the so-called rebel. She can’t help but think Finn would never even think of saying something like that. Even less, actually recite poetry to her.

Quinn hands her her toast and the singer knows it’s too late to kiss her now. The moment is gone. 

  
  


They eat their breakfast at the table and Quinn acts as if nothing just happened and Rachel wonders how she manages to do that. Because all she can think about is the way her heart had raced when she had thought they would finally kiss. She knows herself. She knows how a little obsessed she can become with someone and she knows that if she kisses Quinn and the rebel suddenly acts like it didn’t matter to her, it’ll crush Rachel. The odds of that happening seem to be pretty high since the troublemaker had no problem telling her she liked to make out with pretty girls often. What’s gonna happen if they do kiss anyways and let’s say it means something to Quinn? Is she just supposed to drop Finn? Rachel chastises herself in her mind for even thinking of something like this. If she’s honest with herself, she’s been ready to drop Finn for a while. She had clearly set her expectations too high since the start considering the dates had all been subpar and they didn’t actually share anything in common other than Glee club. But if she drops Finn and Quinn suddenly loses interest, she’ll find herself alone again and who knows when the next person will come along? It’s not like there’s a line of people waiting to date her.

Quinn drives her home afterwards. They don’t really talk or anything but it’s still nice. At first, the rebel plays a bunch of songs Rachel doesn’t know but once a song that she knows comes along, she can’t help but sing it out loud. Quinn glances at her and her smile widens and Rachel remembers it’s actually the first time Quinn finally hears her sing. The pink-haired girl joins at the chorus and the diva gets butterflies in her stomach at the sound of their two voices together. The voice ends and Quinn instantly lowers the volume of the song.

“Well your voice is pretty good, cupcake.”

Rachel raises an eyebrow, “pretty good?”

Quinn chuckles as she stops in front of Rachel’s lawn and she fully turns towards her, “You might have the loveliest voice I’ve ever heard.”

“Better,” Rachel teases and Quinn leans towards her and the diva’s breath hitch. 

“When are you going to go on a date with me?” the rebel suddenly asks and Rachel rolls her eyes out of habit even though her heart skips a beat. 

“Why do you just assume I’ll go on a date with you?”

Quinn puts on a smug smile, “Because think of how good the date would be. I’m hot. You’re hot. It’s a perfect match.” 

Rachel scoffs, “You sound like a douchebag right now.”

“Sorry,” Quinn chuckles, “Will you please go on a date with me?” she tries again.

Rachel leans closer to her so their noses are almost touching and she can see Quinn’s smirk falter since she wasn’t expecting it and it makes the singer feel like a winner, “Maybe,” she whispers and then she makes a move to get out of the door. Quinn doesn’t stop her probably frozen in shock. She’s on her way towards the door when she hears Quinn yell from her car:

“Do you mean that?” 

Rachel chuckles and just flashes her her million dollar smile and without answering the question, she unlocks her door and heads inside. She watches through the window as Quinn drives away and she bites the inside of her cheek to try to contain her smile. She finally feels as though she had the upper hand in this exchange and it feels amazing. 

“Have a good time, sweetie?” Her dad calls out from behind her and she turns around to face him. 

“The best,” she says sincerely and walks past him to go to her room and put away her stuff. 

An idea pops into her mind while she’s in the shower and the first thing she does when she gets out is text Quinn. 

_ Rachel Berry: So what would be my poem of the day? _

Quinn texts back instantly.

_ Quinn Fabray: Saying nothing sometimes says the most, cupcake.  _

At first, she’s confused if it’s actually a real line from a poem or Quinn’s messing with her but when she googles it, she finds the answer easily. 

Emily Dickinson. Of course. 


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I was going to post this tomorrow but I decided to post it today because well... I think you guys are going to like this one. Let's just say that.
> 
> As always, I don't own Glee or any of the characters.
> 
> Enjoy!

“You are under the arrest for drug use, miss Berry. Put your hands in the air.” Rachel suddenly hears from behind her while she’s digging through her locker and she spins around fast, her binder pinned to her chest and her eyes wide. Instantly, Quinn bursts into laughter and Rachel looks around to see if anyone heard what she just said. 

“You’re an idiot,” she says, hitting Quinn with her binder as the girl just laughs some more at her. 

“That seems to be the consensus,” the pink-haired girl says leaning on the locker next to Rachel’s, “Come on, how does it feel to be a bad girl suddenly?”

“Nothing’s really changed,” she says shrugging. That’s not completely true. She feels embarrassingly a little more cool than before but she’s not going to say that out loud because it would just ruin the progress she made and make her seem like the lamest girl in the world and then it’s sure that Quinn would stop talking to her. 

“See? I told you it’s fine to have a little fun every once in a while. It’s harmless.” Quinn says with a kind smile. 

“Yeah,” Rachel says softly, “I really had um.. lots of fun, Quinn. So thank you.” 

The rebel seems actually touched by the words and she presses her lips together shyly, “Oh. Well you’re welcome. I had a lot of fun with you too, sweets.”

The bell rings and Quinn looks around the students walking in the hallways while Rachel fidgets on her feet.

“I’ll see you in English?”

“Well I got a wonderful green apple to give to Mr Green so of course,” the rebel says with a grin.

“You’re so weird.”

“I thought I was an idiot?”

“You can be both.” Rachel teases back. Quinn laughs and leans in. She seems to be doing that a lot and Rachel can’t seem to get used to it. She feels her heart race in her chest as Quinn gets close to her and whispers in her ear. She almost doesn’t hear her, overwhelmed by the scent that surrounds her. The smell that smells like the flannel she gave her or the hoodie she wore on Saturday morning. The scent that smells like Quinn. Surprisingly without any trace of smoke. 

“I tasted life.” 

When Quinn backs away, Rachel looks at her curiously and she smiles. 

“That’s your quote of the day. You tasted life, cupcake. Well, it was more like you tasted it in a brownie,” she jokes, “You gotta celebrate it!” she shouts way too loudly and then she’s off in the other direction. Rachel watches her leave with a dumb smile on her face. She’s especially happy about the fact that the bruise on her face and the cut on her eyebrow barely there anymore. 

  
  


At lunch, Rachel is talking with Kurt and Mercedes about a song she wants to sing in glee when suddenly Finn sets his tray on the table and sits right next to Rachel. Everyone stops talking and watches him take a bite out of his fry like everything is normal. 

“Why’s everyone looking at me?” he says when the conversation doesn’t start again. 

“What are you doing at this table?” Kurt says, “The jocks are over there if you forgot.” 

He shrugs, “I wanted to sit with Rachel,” he says and he turns to her to give her a dopey smile. She’s not sure if she’s surprised that it doesn’t make her stomach erupt in her butterflies like it used to. 

“Right…” Mercedes says awkwardly and Rachel shares a look with Kurt where he glares at her like she’s supposed to have any control over this. Her eyes roam over the cafeteria but as always, the pink head she’s looking for is nowhere to be found. Quinn had spent the entire time drawing in her notebook and it’s only at the end that Rachel got to see what she was doing. She had drawn Spider-Man with a cape who was hovering over someone who looked like a little like Quinn to reference the stupid story the girl had told Rachel last week. Rachel had rolled her eyes but when Quinn had given it to her as a joke, she had made sure to carefully put it in her binder so it didn’t get torn up. 

“Anyways, I was thinking of singing--”

“How was your weekend, Rach?” Finn cuts Mercedes off and he doesn’t see the girl’s glare because he’s busy staring at the diva. 

“Uh…” Rachel says, unsure of what’s happening right now. “It was good. Thank you for asking.” She turns back to Mercedes to tell her she’s listening to her so Mercedes opens her mouth to talk but Finn talks again. 

“What did you do?” 

Kurt groans loudly, “For Christ’s sake, Finn. Just ask her directly about Quinn, we all know that’s what this is about.”

Rachel grows uncomfortable and Finn glares at his step-brother before turning back to her. 

“Look, Rach. I wanted to clear things up about the whole thing,” he starts, “I’m just aware of what Quinn is up to, you know? She always messes up with my friend’s girlfriends to piss us off and she’s just not a good influence. I don’t want her to corrupt you.”

Rachel raises an eyebrow, “corrupt me?”

He shrugs, “Well, yeah. You start hanging out with her and next thing you know she’s forcing you to.. get high or something. I don’t want her to change you.”

Rachel feels her cheeks get red at Finn’s words and she can see out of the corner of her eyes Kurt and Mercedes share a look but she focuses on Finn, “Finn… I don’t think we should go on dates anymore,” she says awkwardly. She really wishes she didn’t have an audience for this conversation. 

“What?” he stammers, “We weren’t even talking about-- This is because of her isn’t it?” he accuses with angry eyes. 

She shakes her head even though it kinda is because of Quinn, “Look, we had fun but you could never remember I was vegan and frankly, I do not care about football enough to entertain conversations about it with you. I still wish to remain friends with you, after all as Glee club co-captains I think it’s important that we stay close and we trust each other but I must put an end to the romantic aspect of our relationship. I think it’s better for us that way. Please don’t try to change my mind since I’ve made my decision.”

Finn looks at her for a while with his mouth slightly ajar, like he’s trying to wrap his mind about all of this and finally he looks at Kurt and Mercedes who both look away from him and the boy turns back to Rachel, “Uh. Okay.” he says dumbly and Rachel nods.

“Thank you,” she turns to Mercedes, “now, what were you saying?” 

Finn leaves quietly after Mercedes tells what she plans to sing in Glee and Kurt stops her with a pat in the arm and he leans closer, “What the hell was that?”

Rachel feigns innocence, “I’m not sure I know what you’re referring to, Kurt.”

He rolls his eyes, “I’m referring to two minutes ago where you just dumped Finn, your long time crush, to the curb like you never cared about him right in front of us.”

“I liked Finn, it just kind of… fizzled out. It wasn’t what I was expecting,” she says with a shrug. She’s almost mad at herself for officially dumping Finn because in her mind, she knows she did it for Quinn. The pink-haired girl has been on her mind 24/7 and she can’t ignore it anymore. The odds of her getting out of this completely heartbroken are high but she can’t pretend to like Finn anymore, especially when all he seems to talk to her about these days is to stay away from Quinn. That’s the last thing she wants to do anyways. She still remembers the way she had felt when she had woken up with Quinn’s body half on top of her, she had spent almost the two next days daydreaming about it. God she’s pathetic. She knows she sounds pathetic but when Quinn smiles at her like she does and she tells her that stupid poetry line everyday when she said Rachel deserved someone that would recite poems to her… how was she supposed to not let it affect her?

“Rachel?” Mercedes says, waving her hand in front of the diva’s face and Rachel snaps out of it. 

“Sorry,” she says with a chuckle, “I was just thinking of...”

“A certain troublemaker?” Kurt teases and Rachel’s blush deepens. 

“What-- No- I wasn’t thinking of Quinn. Why would I--” she stammers out and her two friends laugh at her.

“Right. That was almost convincing.” 

“Shut up,” she says, glaring at Kurt. 

“What’s the deal with you and her, anyways?” Mercedes asks. 

She doesn’t want to get too into it, especially considering her friends’ reputation of being gossip hounds so she keeps it brief, “We just hang out every once in a while. She’s not anything like what the rumours say by the way.”

Kurt raises an eyebrow, “So she doesn’t get with girls all the time and get high?” 

Well. She does but it’s more… complicated than that. It’s not like she has anything to prove to Quinn. She knows who she is. Well… she hopes she does. She just needs to figure out how she gets those damn bruises and it’ll be okay. Oh and hopefully not get her heart absolutely shattered in the process. At least, she knows Quinn doesn’t sleep with girls without a care in the world. That information reassures Rachel a lot more than she’d like to admit. 

“I-- Look she’s nice, okay? I haven’t gotten slushied in forever since the last time it happened she kicked at guy in the crotch. I don’t condone violence but it was actually really awesome,” she says with a dreamy look in her face. 

Kurt nods with his lips pressed together, “That’s actually kinda cool. Good for her.”

They finally change the subject which let’s Rachel breathe because she’s clearly not ready to say out loud that she might have… feelings for her. 

Feelings for the girl that flirts with her 24/7 as a joke… or not? She’s not sure. One minute Quinn is talking about kissing pretty girls often and the next, she’s reciting poetry to Rachel and calling her beautiful. 

_ Yes, you are. You’re like-- crazy beautiful. It makes my heart go ‘woah’ everytime. _

Quinn had muttered that while she was high and Rachel’s sure she didn’t mean to let it slip like that but she’s not sure she’ll ever forget about it 

  
  


It’s Thursday night and Rachel is trying to hurry because she knows Quinn stayed late for her because she wanted to drive her home after Glee for some reason. She got held up talking to Mr Schue about the set list for Regionals but she’s finally on her way to her locker. She’s in the middle of sending Quinn a text that says she’s almost there when she sees that the girl is already at her locker. 

“Quinn? I thought you were waiting in your car?” Rachel asks curiously. Quinn just smiles and points her finger at her.    
  


“I’m a nobody! Who are you?” she says quite loudly in the thankfully empty hallway.

Rachel furrows her brows and finally gets to her locker, “What?”

“Are you a nobody too?” Quinn says, walking to Rachel’s other side, “Then there’s a pair of us, don’t tell!” she pauses dramatically and leans closer to Rachel and drops her voice, “they’d banish us, you know?” and then she backs away with a smile that shows her white straight teeth. 

Rachel smiles at the theatrical antics that Quinn showed and she’s pretty sure her crush deepened at the moment. 

“I like that one,” Rachel says softly and shoves her things in her bags. 

“I like… it too.” Quinn seems to hesitate but her smile doesn’t falter, “Come on, cupcake. You ready to go?”

“You know she’s more than just food, right?” a male voice calls out from behind them and Quinn’s smile drops instantly. She turns around and even though Finn is infinitely taller than her, she crosses her arms and adopts an intimidating pose. 

“I’m aware.”

Rachel closes her lockers and sighs. Finn had been making doe eyes at her all week long and she knew he wasn’t going to let things go soon but she’s getting tired of being a witness to these Quinn vs Finn confrontations. 

“I’m just not sure that Rachel appreciates these degrading nicknames, that’s all.” Finn says and Rachel winces. They annoyed her at first but whether she wanted to or not, they kinda grew on her and now she barely notices them anymore.

“I think she’s okay with it,” Quinn replies in a bored tone. 

“How do you know that?”

Quinn sighs, “Look man, you look pretty dumb right now trying to save face in front of Rachel when we both know you couldn’t even remember she was vegan. Come on, she made her choice. You gotta let her go.”

Finn turns his hands into fists, “And let you change her into something she’s not? I don’t trust you, Fabray.”

“And I don’t trust you! Now that we made the obvious even more obvious, Rachel and I are gonna leave, okay?” she says and she turns to Rachel and Quinn puts a hand on her back to guide her towards the exit.

Quinn is suddenly pulled away from her and Rachel turns around to see Finn’s hand on her shoulder, “Don’t touch her!” he says in a low voice.

Quinn’s eyebrows are up to her hairline in surprise and she turns around and pushes Finn with force, “You wanna fuck with me Hudson?” she says angrily.

“Guys, stop.” Rachel says, trying to pull Quinn away but at the same moment, Finn pushes Quinn too which makes her stumble into Rachel’s arms.

Quinn instantly pulls away from Rachel and the diva almost feels her heart break but the pink-haired girl had only pulled away to turn her hand into a fist and Rachel doesn’t have time to react that the girl’s hand connects with Finn’s jaw.

“Quinn stop!” Rachel shouts. 

She doesn’t understand what’s going on but she wants them to stop right now because this little show happening right now is the opposite of pretty and Rachel hates it. After he get over the shock of the impact, Finn looks at the pink-haired girl, rubbing his jaw and his pupils are completely dilated. 

“Finn, don’t!” Rachel stays trying to step in between them but then she sees Finn’s hand approaching her and she’s being pushed into the lockers by the taller girl. 

The next thing she knows Quinn is holding her face, back facing Rachel. It doesn’t take too much to figure out what just happened and Rachel screams, “What the fuck, Finn?” 

He seems to realize what he just did and his eyes widen, “Fuck, I’m sorry.” he says in a stammer, taking a step towards Quinn but Rachel puts her hand on his chest.

“Go away, Finn. You’ve done enough damage. Please just… leave,” she says trying to keep her cool because she can see out of the corner of her eyes blood dripping out from in between Quinn’s fingers. 

“I’m so sorry, Rach,” he says in a broken voice but she doesn’t hear him, she waves him off and steps to Quinn’s side. She wraps her arm around Quinn’s waist who’s touching her face, trying to figure out where the blood comes from. 

“Come on,” Rachel says sweetly and guides her to the nearest restroom. The rebel let’s Rachel walk her there because she’s too busy touching her lip and staring at her hand while muttering curse words that Rachel tries to ignore. 

When they get there, Rachel grabs paper towels and wets it a little before stepping closer to the injured girl who snaps out of her gaze when Rachel speaks. 

“This might sting a little,” she warns. Quinn nods and lets her hand fall so Rachel can hold the paper towel to her lip. Finn had managed to bust her lip on the middle of her bottom lip and blood was spilling out of it onto her chin. Quinn has very two capable hands but for some reason, the singer wants to hold the towel and do it for her. 

“M’sorry,” Quinn mutters and Rachel fixes her a glare.

“Hold still, idiot.” she says in an annoyed tone and stares back at Quinn’s lip. She’s not a fan of what just happened at all. She knew it was easy for Quinn to start a fight but it doesn’t mean Rachel would support it. Especially since she was stuck in the middle of it. She’s still kind of shocked that Finn would dare hit someone like that but she can’t ignore the fact that Quinn threw the first punch.

“Why would you punch him?” she says in a sigh. 

Quinn shrugs and mutters something incomprehensible because her mouth is open to let Rachel put pressure on the injury. Rachel just fidgets from one feet to another and makes eye contact with hazel eyes that were already staring at her intensely. Her heart races faster, the way it always does when Quinn looks at her and she can feel her anger dissipate because she can see the vulnerability in her eyes. The troublemaker always shows up with bruises on her body but Rachel could bet that this is the first time someone takes care of the pink-haired girl after she gets hurt. 

She dabs the paper towel and when she sees the blood has stopped running, she takes another one to wipe the dry blood from around the girl’s mouth. She’s focused on her task for a while as she wipes it all of and they’re both not speaking. She inspects her work and she can clearly see the cut that Finn’s fist had created now that there’s no blood anymore and it makes her heart hurt. She hates that Quinn had gotten hurt because of Finn’s jealousy problem. It’s not even as though they were boyfriend and girlfriend, they had only gone on three dates and none of them felt as good as one English class with Quinn. 

“I would say I’m sorry he punched you but you punched first.”

Quinn looks away in shame and ducks her head, “Sorry.”

“Hey,” she says, holding her head up with a finger under her chin, “I don’t like violence, okay? I don’t like it when you come to school and you have new bruises and I don’t like it when you get in fights even if it’s to defend me.” Quinn’s eyes are glistening with tears menacing to fall and Rachel adds, “I’m worried about you.”

Quinn swallows thickly, “You don’t have to be.”

“But I am! I’m worried and I don’t want you hurt because I--” Rachel stops herself in her track. 

Quinn’s brows furrow and she looks at Rachel intently, “because what?”

“I--” Rachel tries to say but she’s not sure she has the courage to say it.

Her eyes drop to Quinn’s mouth and without controlling her, her thumb hovers on Quinn’s bottom lip and she grazes it. The pink-haired girl is breathing heavily and Rachel can hear her heartbeat in her ears. It’s so loud she’s pretty sure Quinn can hear it. Seconds that feels like hours pass as they don’t say a word, just staring at each other while the tension between them thickens. 

She watches Quinn’s mouth as the girl whispers, “If you don’t stop me right now I’m going to kiss you.” 

Rachel doesn’t make a move or utter a word. 

Quinn still slowly leans down giving Rachel the chance to step away but there’s nothing else in the world that she’d rather do less than step away right now. She finally lets her hand fall to her side and then Quinn’s lips are on hers. She never imagined her first kiss with Quinn tasting a little like blood but come to think of it, it’s almost too in character. She ignores the metallic taste and wraps her arms lazily around Quinn’s neck. She feels the pink-haired girl’s hands on her waist, pulling her closer. There’s practically no distance between their bodies, she can feel all of Quinn’s curves against hers and things have never felt so right. It’s like their bodies were made to fit together. 

Rachel had only kissed a handful of people in her life. She’s briefly kissed Finn a few times and she’s even kissed Mike and Puck in a weird game of spin the bottle but she barely considered those real kisses. This one, though. This is a real kiss and she’s pretty sure nothing will ever beat it. Quinn’s mouth moves against her skillfully and it’s just as good as her expectations thought it would be. Kissing Quinn makes her head dizzy with pleasure but there’s nowhere else she’d rather be than here. 

The rebel’s tongue licks her bottom lip and Rachel lets her deepen the kiss and she tries to mind Quinn’s injury and not go too hard but it seems like Quinn couldn’t care less because she’s kissing the smaller woman like there’s no tomorrow. She knows that after this, she won’t be able to stop. One taste and she’s already addicted and there’s nothing else she can do about it. She just hopes Quinn won’t break her heart. 

The need for air becomes crucial and Rachel pulls away gently and she doesn’t miss the way Quinn chases after her and tries to continue the kiss. She smiles against her lips and pecks them quickly before fully pulling away and resting her forehead on Quinn’s. The latter keeps her eyes closed and she can see her chest rising and falling deeply. Her soft hands are still on Rachel’s waist, making sure she’s not going anywhere. 

“I’ve been waiting a really long time to do this,” Quinn breathes out and Rachel’s heart flutters uncontrollably at the confirmation that this meant as much to diva than to the rebel. 

“Really?” 

Quinn opens her eyes, “Are you kidding? Of course. I wasn’t kidding when I told you all those compliments,” she says and the singer can see the shyness in her eyes. She plays with her bottom lip.

“I just thought… you know you flirt with everyone and stuff,” Rachel says, looking away.

Quinn makes her look at her, “I’m just a flirty person but I um-- I….” she stammers out and Rachel smiles a little and she thinks she knows what the pink-haired girl is trying to say but she really wants to hear the words out loud. 

“What?” she says and Quinn sees the smile and scoffs. 

“You know…”

“I want to hear it.”

Quinn lets out a chuckle and runs a hand through her hair, “I like you, Rachel. Like embarrassingly so. I have for a long time.”

Rachel’s heart skips a beat and she’s pretty sure she’s never felt happier than this moment; standing in front of a girl with a busted lip in the school’s bathroom after hours. Quinn likes her.  _ Likes  _ her. The same way Rachel likes her because this isn’t some joke to her like Rachel feared it was. 

“What’s embarrassing about it?” Rachel feings offence.

Quinn rolls her eyes, “Because I’m supposed to be a badass but you make me… go crazy. You make me want to sing songs in the hallways while skipping and holding your hand as if there’s only you and I that exists.” 

Rachel plays with Quinn’s hair at the back of her neck and leans in, “well I do really like your voice,” she whispers. 

“Yeah?” Quinn says softly and Rachel nods before closing the distance between them once more. The rebel makes a happy sound and wraps her arms around her waist and switches their positions so Rachel is the one leaning against the counter. Quinn kisses her with passion and Rachel kisses back with the same intensity because she’s pretty sure this is the best thing she could ever feel. The feeling of Quinn’s soft lips pressed against hers. She runs her fingers through her hair and tugs a little and the pink-haired girl bites her bottom lip in response. 

“Wait, you like me too, right?” Quinn says suddenly pulling away and Rachel giggles in response. 

“Yes, Quinn. I like you.” It feels so good to finally say it out loud, her heart could burst out of her chest. The troublemaker releases a breath and leans down again. Rachel lets them kiss for a few more seconds before she puts her hand on Quinn’s chest and pulls away a little. “Can I ask you something?” she says seriously and the taller girl frowns.

“Sure?”

“Will you go on a date with me?” 

Quinn’s mouth drops and she stares at Rachel in shock for a long moment like her brain is not able to process what she just asked her. The diva bursts out into laughter but Quinn just seems to be able to open and close her mouth. Finally, she tries to make Rachel stop laughing by tickling her on the side.

“Are you serious, Berry? After all this time, you’re gonna steal my thunder?” she says with a huge smile on her face. Rachel can’t stop laughing and she can only nod and Quinn rolls her eyes, “I can’t believe this. I’ve been waiting for months for this moment.”

Rachel finally calms down, “I had to make sure your ego wasn’t going to get too big.” 

“Says you,” Quinn says, scoffing.

Rachel cups her cheeks, “Well? Will you?”

Quinn turns her head so she can kiss the inside of her palm and then she mumbles against it, “Of course I will, beautiful. I’ll go on a thousand dates with you,” which makes Rachel smile.    
  


“What if I want to go on a million dates with you?” 

“Well that's just too much.”

“You’re an idiot.”

“So I’ve heard. But you’re the one kissing this idiot.”

“Well, technically I’m not kissing you right--” she tries to say before she’s cut off by Quinn’s lips. She smiles and kisses her back eagerly because kissing Quinn really makes her feel on top of the world. 

Quinn eventually drops her off at home after lots and lots of kissing and when Rachel comes back from a wonderful dinner with her dads, where she omits to tell them about what she’s been up to after Glee, she sees a text from Quinn.

_ Quinn Fabray: Nice one with asking me on a date but I’m the one planning it, hot stuff. I’ve been planning it for too long to just let it go ;)  _

She’s not going to argue with that. After all, Quinn has been asking her for a date for so long, she’s curious to see what she comes up with. 


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well you know how it goes at that point! here's an another chapter of this fic and I can't believe we only have one left after that. I'm really glad you guys enjoyed the last chapter, believe me I did to. It was about time these two kissed. At first I planned on having ten chapters and the last chapter being the date but I thought I would wait a little before the date and just give you this little thing instead. I hope you like it!
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own glee or any of the characters involved in this story

She’s still really angry for what Finn did so when she sees him walk to her locker the next Friday morning, she makes a face that clearly shows she’s already annoyed of his shit and she knows he knows it. 

“Um… hey,” he says rubbing the back of his neck.

“What is it, Finn?” 

“I just… I really wanted to apologize. I didn’t mean for it to get so out of hand. She just punched me first and I-- I kinda only saw red.” 

Rachel sighs. She knows it’s not fair to only blame Finn in this situation when he is right when he says Quinn punched first. The thing is Quinn is the one that got hurt and the sight of blood coming out of her lip just broke Rachel’s heart so it was kind of hard to be mad at her. Especially when it ended with them… kissing. So she’s definitely biased. 

“She was bleeding, Finn,” she says, getting her things from her locker.

“I know. I know. I’m really sorry. I’ll apologize to her if you want me too she’s just kinda scary and I don’t want her to hit me again.”

Rachel bites the inside of her cheek to keep herself from smiling a little at the irony of Finn being afraid of someone so much smaller than him but at the same time, she definitely gets it. Quinn does know how to fight back, that’s not just a rumour. 

“Well I definitely think the apology should come from both of you guys, to each other and not to me,” Rachel says neutrally and he nods. 

“Yeah, okay.”

Rachel hesitates, “Quinn is driving me home after Glee tonight so I can make sure you guys talk.”

“O-Okay,” the boy stammers, “Hey Rach, are you… sure about this? I’m just worried about you and I don’t want her to--”

“Finn.” Rachel stops him with a hand, “I’m sure, okay?” 

She’s pretty sure she’s never been more sure of anything else. Quinn makes her heart race in the best of ways and she wouldn’t have it any other way. Not once did Finn make the singer feel as  _ alive _ as she does when she’s with the rebel. She’s also noticed that, even with a few slip-ups, Quinn has had way less bruises covering her body since she started getting closer to Rachel then before. That’s definitely a win. 

He sighs, like he finally accepts the defeat, “Well I’ll always be, you know, around the corner if you need me.” 

“Thanks,” she says and he looks like he wants to say something else but he just nods and walks away. She watches him leave with a knot in her throat until a body collides with her from the back and arms get wrapped around her middle, lifting her up and making her shriek. 

Students turn their heads towards the noise and get back to their conversations when they see what’s happening. Rachel can easily recognize the pale hands across her stomach (mainly because there’s remnants of scabs on her knuckles from previous fights) but also because she’d recognize the smell that suddenly surrounds her instantly. She laughs as she gets away from the hands and she’s met with Quinn who looks at her with a smirk. The cut on her lip is still there but it’s already started to heal since it’s not too bad.

“Hey good-looking,” she says and Rachel reaches for her hand.

“Hi,” she says almost shyly. 

“So I’ve been doing some thinking,” Quinn says, her thumb rubbing the back of Rachel’s hand.

“Mhm?” 

“Yeah and I think,” she says, stepping closer to her a little, “I’m gonna take you out Saturday night.” 

The smaller girl licks her bottom lip, “Yeah? And what if I’m not free?”

“Who do I have to fight to make sure you’re free?”

Rachel rolls her eyes, “You don’t have to beat up anyone. Like ever. That stuff’s done,” she says firmly. 

“So you’re free?” Quinn just says. 

“Yes. What are we going to do?”

The pink-haired girl scoffs, “I’ve been waiting for months for this moment, hot stuff. I’m not giving away the surprise.”

Rachel gets all warm inside at Quinn’s words and even though she’s usually not the biggest fan of waiting, she can wait until tomorrow night for this. The bell rings and Quinn tugs on her hand to bring them closer. They haven’t really discussed how open they’d be at school so she kinda wonders what she’s doing but then the rebel presses her lips on Rachel’s and the diva couldn’t care less that they never agreed on that. The troublemaker had never been shy about her attraction to girls and she’s not surprised that she’s the type to want to show off when she’s got someone. Rachel kisses back happily because even though it had only been less than 24 hours since they last kissed, she already missed her lips. It’s a small kiss compared to what they did in the school’s bathroom yesterday when they got a bit carried away but still it’s enough to make the butterflies erupt in her stomach. 

“See you in English?” Rachel says when she pulls away. 

“If you’re lucky,” Quinn responds, already walking away. 

She’s so happy she couldn’t care less that people are looking at them and whispering things to each other. 

  
  


English class passes in a blur because she spends the entire time exchanging notes with Quinn which is terribly childish but it might be her favorite class she’s ever spent. Sure Rachel couldn’t tell you what fascinating thing Mr Green had said about Catcher in the Rye but she could tell you that Quinn’s favorite color is baby blue, that her favorite food is bacon (gross), that her favorite book is Alice in Wonderland, her favorite video game is Outlast and that her guilty pleasure movie is Mean Girls. She’s pretty sure it’s weird that she’s just now getting to know Quinn after they finally made out for the first time but she doesn’t care. She’s high on the joy of finally getting to know who this mysterious girl is and she’s glad that the pink-haired girl is now sharing stuff with her. 

Her quote of the day had been “I felt it shelter to speak to you.”

The rebel had whispered it in her ear after the class and Rachel can still feel the shivers down her spine. 

“You mean that?” Rachel had said, almost not letting herself believe it. Quinn had smiled and then leaned down to peck her lips before disappearing through the door that led to the field. She really hopes the girl isn’t smoking right now because so far, her mouth hadn’t tasted like cigarette and she hopes it stays that way. 

She sits down in front of friends with a dumb smile on her face and they look at her amused. 

“Someone’s happy,” Mercedes notes.

“Life is grand, my friends.”

Kurt scoffs, “Talk for yourself, I had to listen to my dear step-brother throw a tantrum all night yesterday. He refused to tell me what happened and then proceeded to tell me to get the hell out of his sight before I regretted it,” he says, rolling his eyes. Rachel isn’t even surprised by that information.

“Finn is an immature person that won’t get very far if he continues to deal with problems with his fists,” she says as a matter of fact and Kurt raises an eyebrow. 

“You sound like you know what happened.”

“I do not and I also don’t want to talk about him anymore.”

Mercedes narrows her eyes, “you wanna talk about someone else?”

“Like who?” Rachel asks and then she realizes what they meant but it’s too late.

“Quinn,” they both say at the same time and Rachel feels her heart flutter just at the name. 

She makes a show out of rolling her eyes, “I don’t understand the big deal about Quinn and I being close.”

“So you two are close?” 

She blushes. Well you could say that.

“Yes.”

“How close?”

“You know… close.” Rachel says vaguely and they both seem frustrated with her. 

“You’re not going to tell us anything? You’ve befriended the most distant person in all of McKinley and you’re just going to act like it’s not big deal?” Kurt says and she knows he’s just dying to have more information on Quinn because he loves knowing gossip. 

“Yeah exactly,” she grins, “now let’s discuss Regionals,” she says, clapping her hands together and they both groan in unison. 

  
  


Glee club had started out normal. Mr Schue was there when she entered the choir room which she was happy about because finally for once he wasn ’ t late. She had sat down in the second row in the middle so she can be in the field of view of Mr Schue whenever he might need her and she was texting Quinn before class started. She definitely wasn’t trying to convince the girl to tell her what the date tomorrow would entail. She’s just really curious, can anybody blame her?

Kurt suddenly rushes into the class and he looks like he’s been running which is something Rachel isn’t sure she’s ever seen. He takes a breath, fixes his bangs and then looks at Rachel from across the room. 

“You kissed her!” he says loudly and Rachel’s eyes widens. 

“What?” Rachel croaks out, voice a little higher than normal.

“Everyone’s talking about it,” he says walking over and takes the seat next to her. “Rachel Berry kissing Quinn Fabray this morning in front of everyone.” 

Everyone’s looking at them right now and the diva’s face goes red. She knew the guy had no tact but Christ, this was really low. Even for him.

“What?” Finn and Mercedes say at the exact same time. 

Rachel opens her mouth but no sound comes out. Kurt looks at her expectantly and she just closes her mouth once more.

“Well? Why is everyone saying you two kissed and why did you not tell us?” Kurt says.

“Because I did not think this was an appropriate place to tell you guys, especially not here,” Rachel says, teeth clenched together. 

Finn stands up, “So it’s true?”

She takes a deep breath and holds her head high, “yes.”

There’s a few gasp and she hears Puck murmur something about it being hot but everyone ignores him.

“W-what? That’s-- That’s not possible.” Finn says, looking devastated. “So you lied to me the other time when you said you hadn’t kissed her?”

“I did not lie!” Rachel says, offended, “It was true when I said it.”   
  


“So how come you two are suddenly kissing?” he asks and everyone’s looking back and forth at Finn and Rachel like it’s a game of tennis. She really wishes Mr Schue would do something but he seems to be too shocked to do anything. 

“Because she asked me on a date yesterday and we might have… kissed.” Rachel mumbles because while usually she likes to have the attention on her, this was not what she wanted. 

“Yesterday?” Finn says and Rachel’s eyes hardens. 

“Yes, Finn. After you punched her,” she starts and she ignores all the gasps that come from that statement and the uncomfortable look on the boy’s face and continues, “I went to the bathroom to clean her up and... one thing led to another.” 

“Wait wait wait,” Puck interrupts, “Dude you punched Fabray?”

Finn instantly gets defensive, “she punched me first!”

“Who cares? You can’t punch a chick, bro.” Puck says.

“Are you crazy?”

“Finn, this is serious I might have to tell the principal about this.”

“I bet Q fucked him up.”

“This is so messed up.”

“Everyone stop!” Finn shouts and the whole Glee club shuts their mouths. 

“Careful guys, he might punch us too if we don’t stop,” Santana mutters.

He clenches his jaw, “She punched me first! Does no one care about that?”

“I mean not really,” Brittany says sincerely and Santana snickers. Then she turns to Rachel and grins, “She’s a good kisser, right? Did she do that tongue trick because--”

“Yep, she’s good, Britt. No need to talk about it.” Rachel says, forcing a smile because she doesn’t like the reminder that so many people has kissed Quinn before and she's definitely not inclined to talk about it here of all places, where the Glee club is still looking at her with interest. 

“Okay…” Mr Schue interrupts, stepping in front of everyone, “Let’s just start our class now, shall we?”

Rachel nods eagerly and she can feel Finn’s stare on her but she ignores it. It’s not like it’s hard to do so, she has someone else in her mind on whom she can focus on. A pretty pink-haired girl that’s waiting for her right now in the parking lot. 

When Glee ends, she walks up to Quinn’s car with Finn kicking rocks as he walks behind her. She opens the passenger door which makes Quinn look up from her book and instantly a smile spreads on her face.

“Hey beautiful,” she says in a flirty tone.

“Hey, you mind coming out for a sec?”

“Uh.. sure.” Quinn says quizzically but as soon as she steps out and turns to Rachel and sees Finn awkwardly standing there, her confusion is replaced by annoyance. “Why is he here?”

Finn grumbles behind her and Rachel holds out her hand so Quinn walks around the car and stands next to her. The rebel instantly does so and Rachel wraps her arm around Quinn’s waist, “Finn had something to say to you, didn’t he?”

He finally looks up at them and meets Quinn’s fiery gaze and the diva can see him swallow hard, “Uh, yeah. I wanted to.. you know, apologize for punching you and stuff,” he says, rubbing the back of his neck.

The pink-haired girl crosses her arms and arches an eyebrow, “apology not accepted. Can we go?” she says, already making a move to leave but the singer stops her. 

“Quinn might I remind you, you punched first and I’m still mad at you for that.” Rachel says with a look that indicates she means the words and Quinn better not question her right now. 

The troublemaker sighs and pulls a face that she probably hopes can pull out of the situation but Rachel doesn’t budge so she turns dramatically to Finn, “Fine. Apology accepted. I’m also sorry for punching you or whatever.” 

The boy nods and Rachel sends him a look so he shoves his hands in his pockets and fidgets on his feet, “Apology accepted.”

Rachel smiles brightly and squeezes Quinn’s waist, “Great! Thank you both.”

Quinn mumbles something under her breath that Rachel doesn’t catch and opens the passenger door for Rachel to slip inside. Quinn doesn’t even spare another look at Finn who’s looking at the diva in the car and just as about as the rebel is about to sit, he calls out, “If you hurt her, I’ll--”

“You’ll what?” Quinn interrupts quickly, “You want to get into another fight, Hudson? Rachel’s mine, dude. She dumped you. Give it a rest. ”

Without giving him the chance to retort, she slides inside and slams the door shut loudly. Rachel glances out the window and he’s just looking at her with an angry look on his face that kind of makes him look constipated. She cringes and turns back to Quinn who’s going through her phone to find some music that both of them likes, looking like she’s grumbling inside. 

_ Rachel’s mine _

The diva can’t help the small on the corner of her lips when she rethinks of the words. Rachel had always valued herself a strong independent woman that didn’t need anyone to be complete and she still thinks that way but she does have to admit that the possessiveness that Quinn exudes… is really hot. She likes knowing that Quinn is protective of her, it makes her feel important and safe. 

The drive to Rachel’s house is pretty silent. They talk a little about their day but they mostly spend it listening to music and Rachel’s fine with that. For the first time in her life probably, the diva likes silence. As long as Quinn is here, she can handle it. She also spends it thinking of the words “Rachel’s mine” and it makes her heart flutter every time. Once they reach her house, the singer can’t stop herself

“So I’m yours, huh?” she teases and Quinn turns to her in surprise and she must think Rachel didn’t like it because she explains herself in a stammer. 

“Well, I just meant-- I know you’re not mine yet but I thought-- I don’t know, that you could be uh--”

Rachel cuts her off with a giggle, leaning across the console that’s between them, “I kinda like the idea of being yours,” she whispers.

Quinn stops dead in her tracks and she looks at Rachel’s lips, “yeah?” she says softly, like she can barely believe it. 

“Yeah,” Rachel smiles softly, looking at her lips too, “But you gotta woo me a bit more before that, Fabray,” she teases. 

“Oh I definitely plan on doing that,” Quinn says before closing the distance between them. 

Rachel hums into the kiss and cups Quinn’s cheek, where the bruise is almost completely gone now. She can feel the cut on her bottom lip as her tongue swipes on it to deepen the kiss and Quinn opens her mouth to let her tongue in. The diva can feel how into the kiss the pink-haired girl is and she has to admit, Brittany was right. That tongue trick she does is indeed magical and Rachel can feel it deep into the pit of her stomach. Quinn moves closer to her but Rachel can tell she’s frustrated that there’s something keeping them from being pressed together and eventually she pulls away,

“You gonna invite me in, cupcake?” she says with a cocky smile.

Rachel rolls her eyes, running her thumb on Quinn’s smooth cheek, “I don’t think I trust you enough for that.”

“You wound me,” Quinn says, pouting. 

“You can go in my house and meet my dads when you come tomorrow.” 

Quinn chuckles, “Okay deal, I gue-- Wait did you say dads? As in plural?”

“Yeah. I have two dads.” 

Quinn opens her mouth, “Holy shit, it’s you.”

This time, it’s Rachel who’s confused, “It’s me?”

“I just-- I heard my father talk about those two men that were married and how much of an abomination they were all my childhood,” Quinn says and Rachel is not surprised to hear that. Her daddy did say he used to work with him and that he was homophobic. 

“I’m sorry you had to grow up with someone homophobic, Quinn” Rachel says sincerely and Quinn shakes her head.

“I’m sorry my father was an asshole to your dads,” she pauses and she seems to remember something and frowns, “I’m also sorry I ever said you didn’t go through your fair of struggle.” 

Rachel recalls the conversation in the library they had and it seems like such forever ago that if Quinn hadn’t brought it up, she’s not sure she would’ve ever thought about it again. It was that day in the library where they had finished their project on the poem and Rachel had been buzzing with the need of getting to know this mysterious girl in front of her that she had just blurted out the first thing that came out of her mouth. 

“Hey, that was my fault. I shouldn’t have brought up your father, it was insensitive.”

Quinn shrugs and Rachel can see it’s affecting her more than she’s letting it appear to be and she wishes the rebel could just  _ talk _ to her. 

“You’ll pick me up tomorrow?” Rachel tries and it seems to lift Quinn’s mood easily. 

“Yeah. Dress casual we’re not going somewhere fancy. Sorry about that.”

“As long as we’re not going to Breadstix,” Rachel laughs and Quinn rolls her eyes. 

“Please. Who do you think I am?”

“An idiot who asked me out six hundred times like a fuckboy until I finally said yes?”

“You’re the one that asked me out in the end, Berry.” Quinn says with a wink. “I won.”

“Don’t make me regret it.”

The rebel just leans in and kisses her quickly but it’s enough to make Rachel’s stomach erupts in butterflies. 

“I’ll be there at 7.”

“Sounds good.”

Quinn pecks her lips again and the thought of the pink-haired girl being addicted to her lips like she is makes her feel warm, “See you tomorrow, cupcake.”

“See you, Quinn.”

It’s pathetically hard to get out of the car, but she manages to do it and waves one last time at the girl in the car before heading inside. She hears sounds coming from the kitchen and goes to meet her dads who are cooking dinner.

“Hi parental figures.” Rachel says, catching their attention. 

“Hey sweetie. Did you have a good day at school?” 

A smile spreads across her face, “I did.”

Hiram raises an eyebrow, “Did something special happen?”

She hesitates about whether or not she wants to talk about this with her fathers but she doesn't like to keep stuff from them. Plus, she really can’t wait for Quinn to meet her fathers, so might as well tell them about her.

“Well,” she says pressing her lips together, “someone asked me out. We’re going out tomorrow.” Just the thought of it already makes her heart flutter.

Her two dads stop what they’re doing and they smile at her, “Oh yeah? Is it Finn?”

She shakes her head, “No, I told you guys I ended things with him.”

“Then who is it?” Leroy asks her after he slaps his husband’s arm that muttered “thank god” under his breath. 

She pauses and then says, “Quinn.” She already told them long ago that she felt the same way towards girls than she did towards boys so there was no surprise from them when they heard a girl’s name.

It’s almost comical how both of their eyebrows shot up at the same time to reach their hairlines. “Oh?” Hiram says, “I didn’t know you were into her like that. You did tell me she was pretty rebellious.”

Rachel smiles, recounting the way she felt towards Quinn when she first told her dad about her. The pink-haired girl had definitely annoyed her at first with her constant flirting and the way she always asked her out as if she was so confident Rachel would be wrapped around her finger one day. She must admit she eventually got charmed by her but she likes to think Quinn is as obsessed with her. She’s pretty sure no one else on earth knows that Quinn is the kind of girl who recites poems. It makes her all fuzzy inside. 

“She is and I definitely plan on changing that because I will not stand for someone who uses violence as a way to cope,” she says firmly and then softens, “but yeah. I’m into her. Like, really into her,” she says, her cheeks warming up with a blush. 

Out of the corner of her eyes, she sees her fathers share a look, “Well she better treat you right,” Leroy says, “And we would definitely love to meet the girl who has stolen your heart, it seems like.”

“And make sure she’s right for her, not like the last bozo we got.” Hiram chimes in and Rachel rolls her eyes. 

“She’s gonna pick me up tomorrow so you guys will be able to see her then.”

“Great. Dinner is ready.” Leroy says and Rachel starts setting up the table.

The rest of the evening is spent playing board games with her fathers. Hiram wins at Scrabble like he usually does and it makes Leroy and Rachel pout until they’re forced to change games because they’re both sore losers. They play until late at night and at around 8:30, Rachel heads upstairs to start her nighttime routine. She’s pleased to see a text from Quinn is awaiting her in her inbox.

_ Quinn: Watched your MySpace videos. You’re aware no one uses this website anymore, right? _

_ Rachel: I’m familiar with it and I have a steady fanbase there. What did you think? _

_ Quinn: I think you have the most beautiful voice I have ever heard in this entire planet, sweets. _

Rachel blushes and she gives herself to time to calm down before answering

_ Rachel: Thank you :) _

_ Rachel: Just so you know, that wasn’t a really badass thing to say. You’re softening up. _

_ Quinn: Damn it. Did I just lose your interest now? I knew you liked bad girls, Berry. _

_ Rachel: If anything, I think I like you more. _

She chews on her bottom lip, a little anxious that she shouldn’t have typed that because Quinn doesn’t reply right away. She decides that it doesn’t do her any good to just stare at her phone waiting for a reply so she goes in the shower and completes her routine. 45 minutes later, she’s ready for bed and picks up her phone again. Her heart races when she see the reply she got about 10 minutes ago. 

_ Quinn: I like you too.  _

She already knew that but the reminder makes her heart flutter and she doesn’t have any difficulty going to bed that night. Head full of a certain pink-haired girl who’s smile could drive anyone crazy and her low voice that sends shivers down Rachel’s spine. Especially when she whispers in her ear. She tries to imagine what the date tomorrow would consist of but she doesn’t know Quinn enough to guess what it would be like. Surprisingly, she has no doubt that it’ll be romantic as hell. 


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well this is it! We've reached the end of my first multi chapter fic! I hope you guys liked it, i thoroughly enjoyed writing it. I never thought I would ever write a multi chapter fic since I mostly do one shots so let's say I'm pretty proud of myself for that one and I am also trying to write another one right now but no promises I will ever finish it lmao. Thank you for making it to the end, I'm so grateful for all your positives comments, I don't deserve them. I hope you guys like this last chapter.
> 
> Disclaimer: as always, I don't own Glee or any of the characters.

Saturday is probably the longest day of Rachel’s life. She woke up at 6 AM like every other Saturday and jumped on her elliptical for an hour and then took a shower before heading downstairs to eat breakfast with her dads. Then after that… nothing.

She had nothing to do until 7 PM. 

She did all she could. She did some vocal warm ups, recorded a new song for MySpace, watched TV with her parents but the hours couldn’t pass more slowly. Quinn had told her not to eat so even when her fathers started to eat dinner at around 6, she sat down at the dinner table, her leg bouncing with nervosity. 

“You nervous?” Hiram asks her gently when he notices her biting her nail.

“A little,” Rachel admits, “She’s been asking me out for like forever. What if she notices I’m not who I thought I was?”

They frown in unison and Leroy covers his hand on hers, “There’s no way that would happen but if it does I would have a word with her definitely,” he says in a fake stern voice and she cracks a smile. 

“She asked you out a lot?” Hiram asks her curiously.

Rachel rolls her eyes with an easy smile on her face, “God yes. She’s pretty flirty though so I thought she was just kidding, but seems like she wasn’t.”

She still can’t believe Quinn Fabray of all people seemed interested in her. It felt so surreal. The girl had always winked at her in class since they got seated next to each other but she genuinely thought it was because Quinn liked to annoy her. Rachel makes a mental note to ask her when she first started liking Rachel because this could easily drive her crazy until she doesn’t know the answer. Quinn Fabray, who played electric guitar in a band from time to time, who gets into fights and is so secretive,  _ likes  _ Rachel Berry. Who would’ve thought?

Finally, after what seems like forever, someone knocks on the door at 7 PM sharp. Rachel smiles happily because this is already a huge change from Finn who was always late to everything. Rachel smooths out her skirt and makes sure her shirt is tucked in right and takes a deep breath before opening the door. 

Quinn instantly straightens and runs a hand through her hair, probably to ease her nerve, but she stops when she remembers she put her hair in a ponytail. It’s barely considered a ponytail since her hair is short but it makes her look absolutely adorable and Rachel is instantly a fan of the way her hair up looks. She’s wearing black ripped jeans with a light red flannel on top that’s buttoned up which is unusual because usually she lets it open to wear a band tee underneath. 

“Hey beautiful,” Quinn says once she’s finished checking Rachel out too. “You look amazing, as usual.” 

Rachel steps to the side to let her in for a moment, “Thank you. You look great too,” she says almost shyly and Quinn licks her lips gently before leaning down and kissing her cheek quickly as if she isn’t sure she’s allowed to do so. Rachel’s cheek reddens instantly and Quinn smiles warmly at her. Someone clears their throats behind them and the diva remembers they’re not alone and turns to see her two dads looking at them with a smile. She can see their game faces are on and she hopes Quinn will do better than Finn because he ruined his first impression and her daddy disliked him ever since. Quinn takes a step towards them instantly,    
  


“Hi, I’m Quinn Fabray,” she extends a hand and Hiram takes it first with an amused smile, “It’s very nice to meet you, sirs” she continues shaking Leroy’s hand. 

“It’s very nice to meet you too, Quinn. We heard a lot about you,” Leroy teases and Rachel rolls her eyes when the girl winks at her, “And please call me Leroy and call him Hiram. It gets confusing otherwise.”

“Uh alright,” Quinn says, shyly and Rachel steps to the rebel’s side.

“May we go?” she asks and Hiram crosses his arms and looks directly at the pink-haired girl next to her. 

“At what time will you bring her back?” he says using his authoritative voice and there is definitely a right answer and she hopes Quinn gets it.

“Well I plan on taking her to see the sunset so she shouldn’t be later than 10, sir-- I mean, Hiram.” 

Rachel turns to Quinn who’s making a point of not looking at her. The sunset? Rachel already loves this date. She makes eye contact with her dad and he winks at her. 

Hiram uncrosses his arms, “Alright,” he says and she hears Quinn release a quiet breath. “I trust you,” he says this time to Rachel and she nods. 

“Yes daddy. I’ll see you guys later.” Quinn opens the door for her and holds out her hand that Rachel takes happily.

“Have fun,” Leroy calls out before the door closes and the pink-haired girl smiles politely at them one last time. 

“How was that?” Quinn says once they’re both seated in the car and Rachel smiles warmly.

“You did good. You were very polite.”

“My mom would be happy to hear that. If she learned I called them by their first names she would flip out, though.”

Rachel raises an eyebrow, “why?”

Quinn releases a scoff, “One of the very first thing I learned was to never call adults by their first names. I didn’t even call my aunts and uncles by their first names. I don’t talk to anyone anymore, though. So I guess it isn’t a problem anymore.”

Rachel almost chokes on her saliva in surprise by how easy it was for Quinn to just tell her that. it might not seem like much but this is the first piece of information that Rachel has ever learned about Quinn’s family. She buckles her seatbelt and swallows, hoping she won’t say the wrong thing and make her stop talking about it. 

“That must’ve been awkward,” Rachel says quietly. Quinn chuckles and starts driving.

“Oh definitely. Growing up around someone like Russell was not easy. You know I used to go to church every Sunday?” Rachel can’t help the laugh that instantly escapes her mouth and when Quinn looks at her she covers her mouth and forces herself to stop and the rebel grins, “No, you can laugh it’s fine. It was back then when I didn’t know I was gay. When I realized, I stopped going and poor Russell thought me stopping going to church would be the worst thing this family would know, boy was he in it for a surprise when I came out.”

Rachel hangs onto every word on the edge of her seat to make sure she doesn’t mind a word. She doesn’t even know why Quinn is telling her this right now but she loves it. Well not that she loves that Quinn had to go through this but the fact that the rebel trusts her enough to tell her these things means everything to the singer.

“What made you came out if you knew they were homophobic?” Rachel asks when she makes sure the rebel finished her story. 

Quinn hums, “Well I guess I was tired of pretending I was someone else, you know? Besides I almost wanted to see how he would react.” The confusion on her face must show because the pink-haired girl explains herself, “Well he was always reminding me how being gay was a sin, right? So I wanted to see what he would do without, you know, committing a sin. He did up committing a few,” she says in a laugh.

“Did he…?” Rachel says with hesitation. 

“Hit me?” the rebel asks and Rachel winces but nods. “He slapped me but he had already done so before so it didn’t take me by surprise. He kicked me out, though.”

So the rumours about her being homeless had actually been true? Rachel can’t imagine being kicked out and having to hear the whole school speculating about it. She suddenly feels bad for the hours she spent gossipping with Kurt and Mercedes about her, as if she was some zoo animal they can stare at and not a real human. She puts her hand on Quinn’s thigh who smiles at her.

“But you live with your mother now.” Rachel says like it’s a fact but she’s asking her a question.

Quinn nods, “Yeah. One time I sneaked in during the middle of the day to grab a few things I needed because I thought he would be gone to work and I caught him with this random woman on his bed. Most traumatizing thing I ever saw, by the way,” she says with a playful smile and then she turns serious again. “Then, I told my mom who I knew wasn’t in agreement with me being kicked out but she had no choice because he had the power in the house. That was the final straw. She asked him for a divorce and moved me back in. He skipped town a day later. After the divorce was finalized, we never heard from him again,” she says making a turn into a gravel road and Rachel’s brows furrows, wondering where the hell they’re going. “She’s cool with me being gay but we’re not really close. Russell used to pay bills and stuff and my mother didn’t have a job and she had to find one quickly when he left so now she works crazy hours to make ends meet.” 

“That’s crazy,” Rachel finally says, “I’m sorry. I’m-- I’m struggling to find the right words to say right now.” 

“Rachel Berry is speechless? Someone give me a medal,” Quinn jokes and finally comes to a stop and when she makes a move to get out of the car, Rachel follows her out and walks up to her quickly to take her hands in hers. 

“You didn’t deserve this happening to you,” she says firmly. 

Quinn shrugs, “But it did. Nothing you can do about it so there’s not point beating myself up about it,” she says nonchalantly.

The rebel makes a move to start working but Rachel stops her, “hey” she calls out and stands on her tiptoes and catches Quinn off guard by kissing her. The taller girl instantly responds though and kisses her back. Rachel pulls away gently and squeezes Quinn’s hands, “you got me now.” 

Quinn stares at her with a tender look, “Thanks,” she says quietly before leaning down to capture her lips once more for a quick kiss and then she releases her hands to grab a backpack from her backseat and takes Rachel’s right hand. 

They end up walking a small hill but with since Rachel prides herself of being in shape, it’s not a problem. They walk for maybe 10 minutes talking about much lighter subjects than before like Glee and school. They reach the top and Quinn convinces her to cross a fence that says  _ No Entry _ and they sit down at this spot that makes you able to see the whole city. Rachel almost feels like she’s in a coming-of-a-movie right now. She can’t wait to write about this in her eventual autobiography.

“Woah,” Rachel says sitting down on the picnic table that happens to be there. The view is honestly fantastic and she can see that the sun is slowly starting to go down and she can’t wait to see how it looks when the sky will turn pink. 

“I know, right?” Quinn says, digging into her bag and pulling out a few containers of foods. Rachel helps her by opening them. There’s a salad, some cut up fruits and vegetables and also a pasta salad. It’s evident that everything in here is vegan and it warms up Rachel’s heart. She knows Finn would have never been able to do something even remotely similar to this. Last but not least, Quinn pulls out a bottle of apple cider.

“It’s a bit warm now. Sorry about that,” the rebel mutters with a pout, gesturing to the drink.

Rachel furrows her brows and tries to speak even though she has a cucumber in her mouth, “it’s no problem. Thanks baby,” she says grabbing the red cup that Quinn is handing to her. She doesn’t notice the pet name slipping but the troublemaker stops in her track and her eyes widen a bit. 

“What?”

“You called me baby,” Quinn says with a smile on the corner of her lips. 

Rachel plays back the interaction in her head and blushes, “Oh, I guess I did.”

“I like it.”

“Yeah?”

Quinn scoots closer to her and nudges her shoulder, “Yeah. I like it.”

“I like you,” Rachel says without hesitation and she doesn’t care that she sounds cliché because Quinn’s smile spreads across her face.

“I like you too.” 

Quinn kisses her cheek again and Rachel really hopes this is beginning to be a thing because she loves it. They start eating slowly and turn their heads to look at the sky who’s now a pretty shade of pink. They barely talk, both too busy eating and admiring the view to think of something to say but Rachel likes it that way.

She definitely takes a few pictures with Quinn because she want to remember this forever and it takes a lot to convince Quinn to take pictures but Rachel is rewarded by seeing the rebel instantly change her lockscreen to a picture where she has her face hidden in Rachel’s neck and the diva is mid laugh. 

It doesn’t surprise her that this date is the best she’s ever been on and she can’t wait to see what Quinn pulls out of her sleeves next. But she definitely wants to be the one taking the rebel out soon, too. She wonders if there’s any karaoke bar close to here that they could get into because she finds that singing loudly in a car along to the radio with Quinn as she drives her home is one of her favorite things to do in the whole world. 

When the sun has fully disappeared, the girls have finished eating and are now sitting on the top of the table, Rachel’s head leaning on Quinn’s shoulder. 

“We should start thinking about heading home, hot stuff.”

Rachel definitely does not want to leave and when her head shots up to pout, she bumps into the rebel’s bruise on her jaw and the girl hisses in pain. Rachel clenches her jaw and her eyes focuses on the contusion.

“Tell me how it happened,” Rachel says and this time it’s not a question. 

Quinn sighs, “I get into fights sometimes with dudes that hang out around the bar and yell homophobic bullshit at us.” 

Rachel’s shoulders slump. She’s doing it to defend herself and Rachel can’t be too mad about it but it still doesn’t make it okay. It’s not a good way to cope and she knows Quinn really isn’t happy doing it, she’s just never learned how to process her emotions. Which is something that Rachel happens to excel at, so she’s definitely going to help Quinn out if the pink-haired girl lets her. Or even if she doesn’t let her, Rachel will get through. 

“Why? You could just ignore them.”

The rebel shrugs, “I do sometimes but that day, I was… particularly upset. They’re always there so I know I can go to them when I need to get a good fight,” she says with a laugh but her smile drops when she sees Rachel isn’t laughing.

“Why?”

“Well it was the day you went to the bar, yeah? When I dropped you off, I went back because I was, you know… upset that you had rejected me or whatever,” Quinn mutters awkwardly.

Oh. She remembers that. She remembers wanting nothing more than to know what Quinn’s lips tasted like but she was also unsure of the whole thing plus she was still in this dating thing with Finn. 

Rachel takes her hand, “I’m sorry. I didn’t know it had affected you so much.” 

“I’ve liked you for… quite a while and I was starting to thing you liked me too and then you stepped away so--” she cuts herself off by shrugging and shaking her head, looking away. 

“I liked you back then.” Rachel says, “But I was scared to admit it because well, I didn’t know if you just wanted to kiss me just to kiss me and then throw me away or you really had feelings for me.”

Quinn nods, “Yeah. Fair enough.” She turns to look at Rachel, “I don’t plan on throwing you away or whatever. I really want this between us,” she admits shyly. 

“I want this too.” Rachel says, placing a kiss on her shoulder. “Where do you go when you don’t go to school? It was really worrying me that you weren’t answering your phone.” 

“I just drive around town trying to find nice spots. That’s how I found this one. I like being alone and kinda disconnected from reality. I leave my phone at home and just… drive around.”

Rachel nods and she stays silent for a moment. She leans her head back on Quinn’s shoulder, pleased that Quinn is finally being truthful with her. 

“Would it be too controlling of me to ask you to stop getting into fights and disappearing into the unknown without giving me a sign of life?” she says after a while. 

Quinn turns to look at her, “too controlling?”

“People say I’m controlling,” Rachel says frowning. 

Quinn squeezes her hand, “Nah. It’s not too controlling.”

“I don’t like seeing you hurt.”

“I’ll try to stop,” Quinn says and Rachel can see she’s sincere so she nods.

“Thank you.” She turns back to the night sky who’s lighted up with bright stars and Rachel feels her inside warm up. The view is as beautiful at night. “I want to live in this moment forever,” she says.

“Forever is composed of nows,” Quinn whispers against her hair and presses a kiss there. The troublemaker smiles, “Come on hot stuff. We need to get you home before I lose the appreciation of your fathers.”

On the walk back to the car, Rachel happily finds out that Quinn can sound good singing acapella and she’s not sure she’s ever liked someone more than in this moment. They scream songs into the dead of night to distract Rachel from the fact that it’s very dark out right now and Quinn dances along with her in the most adorable way and the diva is  _ happy.  _

They don’t stop singing when they get to the car and the 30 minute drive flies by and suddenly they’re in front of Rachel’s house at 9:47. Rachel takes a breath and remembers the mental note she reminded herself.

“So you’ve liked me for a while, huh?” she teases. Quinn chuckles and puts her arm around Rachel’s seat. 

“Yeah. I always had a thing for the cute girl sitting next to me in English and then when we got paired up together, I became obsessed with the way she rolled her eyes but blushed at my compliments.”

“You’re an idiot,” Rachel says but she’s smiling. 

“So I’ve heard.” Quinn says and she leans in across the console, “So I’ve been thinking.”

“Uh oh.”

Quinn smirks and she takes Rachel’s hand and brings it to her lips to press a kiss over her knuckles, “Yeah and I think,” she pauses, kissing her hand again. “I think you should be my girlfriend.”

Rachel’s heart skips a beat and she pulls her hand away so she can get her face closer to Quinn. This time, she’s not blushing or shy about it when she says,

“I think you’re right.”

Quinn grins the widest smile Rachel has ever seen and she closes the distance between them to kiss her but it barely considers as a kiss because they’re both smiling too hard. Quinn pulls away way too soon and Rachel whines but the pink-haired girl cups her cheeks

“So that’s a yes to being my girlfriend?”

Rachel nods, her bottom lip between her teeth, “a million times yes.”

“Well that’s just too much.”

Rachel rolls her eyes, “Kiss me before I regret it, idiot”

Quinn chuckles and captures her lips once again and Rachel instantly wraps her arms the best she can around Quinn’s neck. 

She kisses injured lips that recites poetry to her and has the power to utter words that make her roll her eyes with a blush on her cheeks and Rachel enjoys every single of it.

**the end**

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Leave a comment and kudos if you guys liked it 
> 
> see you in the next one!
> 
> Find me on twitter: @chloebeaie


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